Tears of Innocence
by Vero-chan
Summary: When Chrno met Rosette for the first time, something in him changed... yet his big hatred towards humans remained. What does he plan to do with Rosette's life, which is now in his hands?
1. The beginnings of a nightmare

Tears of innocence

---Chapter 1: The beginnings of a nightmare

It was a beautiful day in May, in Michigan's countryside. Spring had come a little late that year, but the entire area surrounding the Seventh Bell Orphanage was quickly covering with beautiful flowers, as if wanting to erase all evidence of the long winter that had gone by. The forest near the orphanage grounds had become a playground again for adventurous children like Rosette and Joshua Christopher, who lost no time in getting away from the orphanage immediately after breakfast and got into the woods before Ms. Jean, their caretaker, could even notice.

"Hey Rosette, do you really think this is alright?" Said the boy, a blond 11 year-old kid, looking at his older sister with a worried expression on his big blue eyes.

"Oh, c'mon Joshua, this is our special day. I will apologize to Ms. Jean later, I'm sure she's going to understand, she always does." Said the blond 12-year-old girl beside him with confidence. "Besides, I doubt she'll notice our absence until lunchtime, and we won't be back that late, anyway." She pointed to a special path between the woods that was very familiar to them. "Let's go that way, we haven't gone to the secret cave in months! I want to see if our treasure map is still buried there."

Joshua smiled sadly, feeling a little nostalgic. "Yeah, let's go!" he said, trying to sound enthusiastic. This was their last day together in the forest, after all...

Ewan Remington, a famous member of the great Magdalan Order, a religious militaristic organization known all over the world for their many victories against demons during the Great War, almost 2 centuries ago, was going to take Joshua to New York City the following morning. Joshua, a boy with special supernatural powers, had been "discovered" the week before by the Magdalan Order, and had been asked to join them in order to be trained to become a powerful exorcist, an offer that Joshua, a boy with big dreams, could not refuse, despite his frail health. He was an "Apostle" after all, a person blessed with the ability of using the powers of the Astral Line to help others, and people like him were invaluable in the hard times they were living in.

Humanity was at war, a difficult war that had been going on for over a thousand years against the beings people called "demons" for the extraordinary powers they possessed. Demons, despite having lost the Great War 200 years ago thanks to the help of a very special person known everywhere as "the Holy Maiden", were quickly gaining advantage against humans, and it was crucial to find Apostles like Joshua to help protect humanity.

Joshua and Rosette continued walking towards the cave they had discovered the year before in complete silence. Though none of them wanted to talk about it, the idea of being separated for the first time in their young lives was something they both dreaded. Rosette had not been too happy at the idea of being separated from her dear brother, but she knew how important his decision was, so she tried to cheer the both of them by keeping Joshua and herself distracted from the tearful separation that would come the following morning, when Minister Remington came to take Joshua away. She knew her brother too well, and she was aware that no matter how happy he was at the idea of joining the Magdalan Order, he would be very worried about leaving her behind, and though she knew she was going to cry once Joshua was gone, she didn't want to be pitied by him. She was the stronger of the two, after all, and was determined not to let him see her cry, no matter how lonely she felt...

"Hey sis, are you sure this is the right way?" Asked Joshua suddenly, breaking the hour-long silence between them. "I don't remember the cave being this far."

"Oh, it shouldn't be so far away now." said Rosette, not looking worried in the least. "We just need to find the old dead tree, turn to the right and..." She stopped herself abruptly, looking around her. The place didn't look too familiar, but she was confident she could find the way back with no difficulty. They continued to walk for more than half an hour, until she finally stopped walking and scratched her head, looking confused.

"What... is... it?" said Joshua, completely out of breath. His physical condition was not as good at his sister, and the long walk had made him very tired. "Don't... tell me... we're lost..." he managed to say between breaths.

"Are you alright, Joshua?" said Rosette, looking at him with concern. Joshua managed to smile at her. "Of course... I've never... been better... but where... are we?" he asked, not wanting her to notice how exhausted he really was.

"Umm... "Rosette looked around her again. She knew the forest very well and she didn't want to admit that she had no idea of their current location, so she inspected the surroundings carefully, looking for a clue that could help her find their way back. Something immediately caught her attention. A light shone between some nearby trees, and Rosette smiled.

"Look, there's a clearing!!" she exclaimed. "Let's go see, I'm sure there's a path somewhere!"

"O... okay" said Joshua, too tired to protest. They walked a few yards, and they suddenly found themselves in front of a wide open space, looking at something with big curious eyes.

In front of them, in the middle of a big clearing, was a big marble block, with a cross and some inscriptions engraved. Nothing grew around it in a radius of about 10 meters, not even the grass, which was an oddity, considering how thick the forest was in those parts. Yet the earth around the marble block was as dry and lifeless as a desert, almost as if were cursed never to give life again.

"Wow." said Rosette. "Why is such a large tombstone here, in the middle of the forest?"

"Who knows" said her brother, walking from behind her to peek at the marble block curiously. "How funny. There's no name written in it, just a short poem." He got on his knees to shake a bit of dust from the tombstone, and peered at the letters intently. He had always dreamed of becoming an explorer, and the idea that his sister and him had found something like that so unexpectedly, really excited him.

"Holy maiden Magdalene, pray for us. Almighty God, deliver us from all evil. Amen" He read out loud.

"That's all?" Rosette frowned. "Why would someone bring something that heavy here, where nobody could find... WHOA!!" Was the last thing she said before the marble block suddenly lowered before their eyes, showing a large underground passage underneath. "Whoa... this is incredible!" She breathed out, surprised.

"Let's go inside!" Joshua was almost trembling with excitement. "Maybe we'll find a REAL treasure inside, or a mummy, or..."

"Yeah, right." Said Rosette, pretending to be calm, when in reality she was just as excited as her brother. "There's probably nothing there, but let's go anyway..." She grabbed Joshua's hand. "Stay behind me, you might get lost!"

"Hey, YOU were the one who got lost, you said you knew where the cave was!" Said Joshua indignantly, despite following his sister's orders like he always did.

"Yeah, whatever you say..." Rosette lowered her voice. The underground passageway below the tombstone was very damp and cold and the darkness seemed impenetrable, despite the sun rays that fell through the entrance. Joshua remained silent. The atmosphere around them was a bit oppressing, though he didn't exactly know why. Everything was so surreal, like being in the middle of a dream...

"LOOK!" Shouted Rosette suddenly, making Joshua jump. She hurried forward, nearly dragging her brother along, and stopped a few meters away from a big archway with large stone doors. Both siblings stared at them for a few moments, amazed. To think that a place like that could even exist not so far from where they lived was almost unbelievable.

"But how do we open them?" Said Joshua. "There's no lock, and they look really heavy".

"Let's push them!" Suggested Rosette. "Maybe we can move them a little."

"Wait, there is something written here too..." Joshua narrowed her eyes, trying to look at the engraved letters despite the poor illumination. The sun rays didn't reach so far inside the passageway, so he put his face a few inches away from the doors and put his hand on them.

"Holy Ma..." He started to say, when the doors suddenly starting opening, just like the marble stone had moved before. They stared at the inside, incredulous at their apparent good luck. Everything was so easy...

Rosette, the most curious of the pair, stepped forward, with a look of wonder in her eyes, and peered inside the room. Though the light was dim, there didn't seem to be anything inside, except for what appeared to be a statue of a sleeping person, lying on top of a big stone bed. Weird...

"That's all? So it was just a tomb after all..." Whispered Joshua behind her, barely hiding his disappointment. He expected to find a treasure, or something equally spectacular, but there appeared to be nothing of the sort.

"Yeah, but why is it here? It's so strange!" Rosette took a deep breath and walked inside, cautious. She was very scared, but her curiosity was a lot stronger than any fear she might have had at the moment. She crossed the doorway and looked around her. The room was dark, but strangely enough, the darkness didn't bother her. It took her a bit to notice that the statue of the person that was on the stone bed in front of her was glowing softly, as if the moon was shining upon it from behind thin clouds. She walked forward to take another look at the statue, with Joshua a few steps behind her, obviously not liking to go inside the tomb by himself.

Rosette, however, forgot everything about Joshua as soon as she looked at the statue at a closer distance. She gasped.

"What is it, Rose..." said Joshua before he stopped abruptly just behind her.

What they took for a statue was actually a living person, a tall young man dressed in strange clothes that seemed to belong to a different time period. His thick, straight hair reached his shoulders and seemed to be a dark color, though it was difficult to say what shade it was due to the dim light that surrounded him. His face was very pale, but his features were very handsome, almost like a prince in one of the fairy-tale stories Ms. Jean sometimes read to them. He had a rosary around his hands, almost tying them together, and he had a golden medal on his bare chest with a strange cross-shaped symbol. He seemed to be in a deep sleep, though his breathing was nearly imperceptible.

"It's... it's a VAMPIRE!!!" Shouted Joshua suddenly, startling Rosette, who had forgotten all about him while looking at the mysterious stranger sleeping before her.

"Shh, you're going to wake him!!" Said Rosette in a voice nearly as loud as her brother's. She lowered her voice immediately and turned to look at the sleeping person again. "Do you really think he's a vampire? He doesn't look like one..."

"Yes, he is, I'm sure of it!" Exclaimed Joshua, excited rather than afraid. He loved horror stories, and he considered himself a vampire expert. "Just look at all the holy symbols we've seen, I'm sure somebody put him here so that nobody would ever find him!"

"That makes sense, but..." Rosette looked at the face of the man, studying it carefully. "He looks a little sad... somehow I don't think he's evil."

"How do you know that?" Asked Joshua, looking at the guy with curiosity. He didn't find any expression on his face, neither sad, nor happy.

"Just look at his eyes... he seems to have been crying." Whispered Rosette. Somehow the man seemed rather sad to her, though she didn't exactly know why.

Joshua just shrugged. "Yeah, whatever you say, sis." He didn't like to contradict his sister in such matters. She seemed to understand people much better than he did anyway, which was probably the reason why she had so many friends, when he had so few... "Anyway, we should go now, he might be dangerous, and we don't have any holy water with us."

Rosette appeared doubtful. "I don't really think he's a vampire. He has a rosary in his hands, and he's not burned by the cross on his chest either!"

"Yeah, but why is he in here then?"

"I think somebody put a spell on him" Answered Rosette, matter-of-factly. Joshua snickered. "I'm serious! What if he's a prince?"

"A prince?! You really think so? You're kidding!"

"Well, he's not a vampire, or he wouldn't be holding a rosary!"

"Yes, but..."

"We should wake him up in any case, he seems to have been asleep for a long time." Rosette interrupted. Joshua didn't argue about that. He was very curious to find out about the man's identity, and like his sister said, an evil being like a vampire wouldn't be holding a rosary and have a cross around his chest, so he let down his guard a little.

"How will we do it? If he's under a spell, then there's nothing we can do... unless... you know..." Joshua blushed a bit, looking at his sister, who also blushed, but said nothing. They were both having the same thought. The only thing that could break an evil spell was a kiss, wasn't it? That was what all the fantasy books said, in any case...

Rosette stood before the man, looking at his handsome face once more. What was he like? Why was he buried alive in such a far away place, and why did he look so sad? She was very curious to find out. Rosette sighed and held her breath. She lowered her face slowly, letting her blonde pigtails fall over her blushing face, closed her eyes and kissed the young man's lips softly, pressing one of her small hands on his chest for support.

The man's lips were warm and soft, and Rosette pulled back almost immediately, feeling very embarrassed. Her heart was beating so hard against her chest, that she put a hand over it trying to slow it down. Joshua didn't say anything, expecting the man to open his eyes any second, but a long minute passed, and he didn't move, or show any reaction.

Just as Joshua was about to say something to his sister, however, the man stirred lightly, and the soft light that enveloped him suddenly disappeared, obscuring the room around them. "It... worked..." said Joshua, almost too excited to talk. Rosette nodded slowly. What would the stranger say once he found out she had woken him? The thought made her blush even more.

The man, however, continued to be asleep, though he moved a little and appeared to be making a big effort to open his eyes. "It looks like something is not allowing him to wake up fully." Said Rosette, a little worried. He seemed to be having a bad nightmare...

Joshua nodded, somehow getting the same feeling. He put his hand on the guy's chest, trying to shake him a bit, but as soon as his hand touched the golden cross-shaped symbol that hung around his chest, the room suddenly filled with a strange golden light that radiated from many Latin words written on the walls of the room, which they hadn't noticed before due to the dim light.

The man's eyes opened suddenly and he looked around him for a few moments before slowly raising from the stone bed he had been resting on. He stood up before them and pierced them both with a cold glare. Rosette and Joshua watched him in silence, suddenly too afraid to move. Now that they could see him clearly due to the eerie light coming from the symbols on the walls, there was no doubt in their minds now that the guy was definitely not human. His eyes were as red as blood with cat-like pupils, and his hair was a deep shade of violet, almost hiding his strange pointed ears. His broad chest had a strange symbol that appeared to have been burned into his skin with a hot iron, and his expression while looking at them was rather fierce, like a tiger surveying its prey.

"Who are you? Why did you wake me up?" His voice was low and dangerous. He broke the rosary that tied his hands together and raised a fist in front of him. "I won't show any mercy to humans, even if they're children. Who sent you?!" He roared, voice echoing in the cold walls of the room.

Rosette and Joshua cowered a bit, but she was not one to be intimidated by anybody, no matter how fierce or un-human her opponent was, and suddenly felt very angry at the man's harsh words. After everything they done in order to wake him up, she was not going to tolerate a treat from him, even if he was a vampire, or something equally dangerous. She had a brother to protect after all...

"Nobody sent us." Said Rosette, sounding more much more courageous than what she really felt. "We just stumbled on this place by accident. We didn't mean to disturb you."

"Th... that's right!" Mumbled Joshua, feeling a bit less scared by his sister's apparent lack of fear towards the stranger. "We're just orphans who live nearby, we didn't know you lived here!"

The stranger's red eyes narrowed dangerously. "You expect me to believe such a stupid lie? Don't take me for a fool. That woman is even more cunning that I thought, sending two children down here. Where is she?!" He growled, showing his uncommonly long fangs.

"I told you, nobody sent us!" Said Rosette, starting to feel a bit desperate. What if the guy didn't believe them? If he attacked them they would have no chance against him... "We found your grave by accident, and ended up here by mistake. You seemed to be having a bad nightmare, that's why we decided to wake you up!"

The man walked took a step towards them, still piercing her with his blood-red eyes. Rosette (and Joshua behind her) took a step backwards, yet she continued to look at the man's eyes defiantly. She was not going to be intimidated by him, no matter how scary he was...

The man's expression relaxed a little, feeling somewhat amused at her vain efforts to hide her fear, but it was still harsh and distrustful. "Only a person with a strong spiritual power would be able to open the doors' seal. You're telling me you two opened them by yourselves? Don't joke with me, or I won't show you any mercy." His tone of voice made it clear that he was being serious.

"We're not joking!" Rosette was still very afraid, but she was determined to make him believe her. "We didn't even know that there was a seal. Joshua, my brother, is an Apostle, and he was the one who opened the doors. We weren't sent by anybody, we came here by ourselves. We really didn't mean to disturb your sleep, we're very sorry!" She sounded apologetic.

The man continued to stare at the both of them, but this time with more curiosity than anger. "You boy," he said to Joshua. "are you really an Apostle?"

"Y, yes... that's what the priest said, anyway." Said Joshua, trying to be brave for his sister's sake.

"How interesting. Tell me, how did an Apostle like yourself come all the way here on his own, without being sent by anybody?" His eyes were fixed on Joshua's face, carefully studying him. If the boy was lying, he would know it immediately.

"I don't know... we were exploring the forest and we got lost." Was everything Joshua could say. The man didn't appear to be too convinced. "Oh, I see. So you just figured out how to break the seals and wake me up all by yourselves? How smart of you." There was more than a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"He's telling the truth!!" Shouted Rosette, now more angry than afraid. "We didn't know this place even existed! We found a grave in the middle of a clearing in the forest, and it suddenly moved, and we found a passageway, and we came here, and the doors opened too, and then we found you sleeping, and we decided to wake you up, but we couldn't and then he took the cross and..." Rosette made a small pause to catch her breath, and then continued: "and then it started glowing, and you woke up. That's it, really." She said, completely skipping the "kiss" part. The man smiled at her sudden outburst for a moment, but then his expression became as cold as ice.

"Go out of here." He said simply. No matter how much he despised humans, he never really intended to kill children, but he didn't want anything to do with them either. "This is no place for humans like yourselves. Go out!!" He roared, before suddenly falling on his knees, clutching his chest and breathing heavily. He gritted his teeth in pain. The seal they had put on him burned like fire, and he couldn't do anything to stop the searing pain...

Joshua lost no time in taking his sister's hand and running to the entrance, but Rosette appeared reluctant to leave. She looked at the stranger's face with a mixture of concern and curiosity. "Are you alright, sir?" She asked politely, letting go of her brother's hand and walking inside the room once more. The man raised his head a little to look at her, completely taken aback at her reaction. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. What could this little human possibly want to do with him? "Go away and leave me alone." He said, forcing himself to speak. He made a face again and closed his eyes. The pain was almost unbearable now, but it would go away once the Astral power that still remained inside him died down a bit. He breathed deeply several times, trying to calm himself. After a few long minutes, the agonizing pain receded a little, but he still felt as if he had a bright red coal burning the skin on his chest. _Bastards._ He thought, as some bad memories came back to him. _Some day, I swear..._

"Do you feel better now?" A small voice beside him interrupted his thoughts. He opened his eyes, only to find the little blond girl staring at him with a worried expression in her deep blue eyes. He had momentarily forgot all about the human children that had awoken him in such mysterious circumstances. "I think so... you better go away now, before I recover." He said with difficulty. Amazingly, instead of going away, the girl just breathed a sigh of relief, and spoke to him in a rather friendly tone. "Thank God." She said. "I was afraid you were going to faint, or something. Can you stand up?"

He just stared at her incredulously. _What's wrong with this girl? Why isn't she scared of me?_ He thought. "I... yeah, I think so." He blurted out, not really knowing what to say. The girl's brother came from behind her to take a closer look, apparently no longer afraid of him, though he still looked cautious. _Pathetic. Not even human children are afraid of me anymore_. He thought bitterly. He stood up again, putting his hand on the rock for support. The pain had diminished a great deal, but he still felt horribly weak, and only his anger towards the people responsible for his current situation seemed to give him enough energy to stand. He looked down at the two small children with a cold expression. Before he could say anything, however, the girl spoke again.

"My name is Rosette Christopher" She said, smiling at him. "And he's my little brother Joshua. Who are you?"

"My name is Chrno. I'm what you humans call a demon." He said coldly, waiting for their reaction. Rosette and Joshua's appeared to be very surprised and a little afraid, but rather than run away, they just stared at him curiously.

"A demon? You don't look like one." Said Rosette, cautiously. "Aren't demons supposed to have horns and wings?"

"Y, yeah!" Joshua added. "We thought you were a vampire!"

"Well, whether you believe me or not is entirely your problem. I warn you though, nobody calls me a liar and lives to tell the tale." Chrno said, looking dead serious. Joshua didn't look too happy at his words, but Rosette quickly apologized. "We're sorry. It's just that we've never seen a real demon before, except in books."

"I see." He said, tiredly. He sat down on the stone bed, feeling very weak again. The seal on his chest still burned a little, but he could ignore the pain easily. The lack of Astral energy, however, was what really bothered him. He could no longer absorb the energy he needed, which meant he had been condemned to a slow and painful death...

"You've been asleep a long time, haven't you?" Chrno raised his eyes to look at Rosette, who was standing in front of him, looking concerned. "You must be very hungry, wait a sec..." She put her hand in one of the pockets of her dress and took out a carefully folded handkerchief.

"Hey, why didn't you say you had food before?!" Asked Joshua indignantly. "Because I was saving it for later, you dummy, we just had breakfast a while ago!" Shouted Rosette, equally annoyed.

Chrno interrupted them. "I'm not hungry, so just save that for yourselves." He said, not wanting anything to do with human food. He didn't really need it, anyway.

"Oh, it's okay, we're not hungry yet." Said Rosette, smiling at him once more. Despite her rather quick temper, she was the kind of person who couldn't stand seeing anybody suffer, and helping a person in need always made her happy. She unfolded the handkerchief before his eyes, ignoring her brother's resigned face and extended her small hands in front of her, showing him an adorable smile. "Here!"

Chrno looked at her, intrigued. She was such a strange girl, completely unlike anything he had ever imagined a human to be. He wanted to say that he didn't want her food, but he reluctantly took the handkerchief from her hands, almost against his will. "Th... thank you." He said. Ah well, he could throw the food away later, in any case. "Now go away, and leave me alone. I don't have anything to do with humans, so don't come back here." He said rudely.

"Yeah, well, but we're kinda lost." Said Rosette, ignoring his harsh tone. "Do you know where the river is? We can find our way back from there. C'mon, come with us!"

Chrno sighed. Was there no way to get rid of these annoying little humans? Then again, he longed to go outside and look at the sky once more, though he was sure the world had gone through great changes during the time he had been asleep. He raised from the stone bed slowly and walked towards the entrance of the room, which became as dark as a cave as soon as he stepped out. The Latin words written on the walls lost their glow and everything became cold and lifeless once again. Rosette smiled warmly at him. "Let's go!" She said, taking his hand and pulling him gently.

Chrno let himself be guided by her, once again lost in his thoughts. He looked around him at the hall that reached to the underground chamber where he had been buried alive a long time ago. How many years had it been since then? He guessed it might be several decades, judging from the dust and the bad state of the symbols engraved on the walls which neither Rosette nor Joshua had noticed before, but that his demon eyes could see clearly even in the dark shadows. "Here lies the ignoble one" Was written in one of the walls. Chrno almost smiled. "The ignoble one" they called him. What a joke.

Joshua was the first to go out through the entrance, followed shortly by Rosette and then Chrno, who still had Rosette's tiny hand inside his, though he really didn't notice. He stared at the large area around the marble block that marked the entrance of the underground passageway, not bothered in the least by the bright rays of the sun that nearly blinded Rosette and Joshua's eyes for a few moments. The place had changed very much, but he could still recognize the deserted area surrounding them, where many years ago he had taken the energy of all the living things that grew there trying to gather enough Astral energy to break his seal and break free...

"What year are we now?" He asked at last, afraid of the answer. The humans measured time very differently from demons, but it would still give him a good idea of the time gone by.

"Today is May 12, 1920." Said Joshua. "How long have you been in there?" He asked with barely hidden curiosity. Chrno didn't answer immediately, trying to calm himself. "About 200 years." He answered at last. 200 years. It wasn't such a great amount of time for a demon, but it was still much longer than he had imagined at first. "Wow" Said Joshua. "You mean you've been sleeping all this time? Ow!" He exclaimed after Rosette elbowed him.

"You've been locked in that awful place that many years, all alone?" Rosette's blue eyes were full of concern while looking up at him. Chrno let go of her hand and quickly diverted his gaze too look at the forest in front of him. To be pitied by a mere human child was a lot more than what he could bear at the moment, so he said nothing. The all-too-familiar feeling of rage and frustration threatened to obscure his senses once more, but he needed to be calm in order to think clearly... "The river is over there." He said, pointing to the direction of the small, but unmistakable sound that reached his sharp ears. "You two should go back to your home now. I spared your lives for being the ones who awoke me, but that doesn't mean I can't kill you later if I want to. I'm your enemy, an evil being feared by you humans, so don't come back here ever again!" The tone of his voice made it perfectly clear that he didn't want any company at the moment.

Rosette and Joshua looked at each other and walked towards the edge of the forest in silence. None of them wanted to leave Chrno's side so soon, specially when they still had so many questions they wanted to ask him, but there was nothing they could do. Rosette looked back at Chrno, who was still standing there in the middle of the clearing, absently holding the handkerchief with the food with his left hand. He looked rather out of place, and Rosette couldn't help but to feel sorry for him, even if he considered himself their enemy.

The children walked for almost half an hour until they finally reached the river and sat down for a few moments to rest and to drink a bit of water. They knew how to get back from there, since the river ran near the orphanage's grounds, but they still had a long journey ahead of them and they needed to hurry up if they wanted to get back before dinner.

Joshua was the first to break the silence. "Hey Rosette, do you think we should tell Minister Remington about Chrno? He looks very dangerous, you know." He said cautiously, waiting for his sister's reaction.

"No way, they could kill him or lock him up again!" Said Rosette indignantly. "And he's not really dangerous, I think he's just lonely. Just imagine what it must be like to be buried alive in a creepy place like that for 200 years! He must be feeling awful."

"Yeah, but we don't know anything about him! What if he did something really bad?"

"We don't know that yet." Answered Rosette. "And we can't betray him, we're his only friends!"

"Yeah, that's true..." No matter how rude or unfriendly Chrno appeared to be, Joshua and Rosette felt responsible for him, being the ones that had broken the spell on him. Joshua sighed. He was very hungry now, and the orphanage was still so far away... "Well, we better go now, before Ms. Jean gets annoyed at us" He said slowly. He had just remembered that the next morning he would be taken away to New York, and he started to feel a bit homesick.

"Okay." Rosette knew her brother better than anyone, so she quickly changed the subject and pretended to be cheerful. "C'mon, Ms. Jean said she was going to make a special dinner for you today. I'm sure she's going to bake some cookies too, so let's hurry up before Billy eats all of them!" She said, raising from the rock she was sitting on. Joshua did the same, smiling sadly, and they started their long walk home.

They arrived to the orphanage almost 3 hours later, feeling exhausted and ravenously hungry. Ms. Jean was worried sick about them, but like Rosette guessed, she was too glad to see them safe to punish them, and just sent them to their rooms to change their dirty clothes before dinner.

The rest of the afternoon went by uneventfully. True to her promise, Ms. Jean prepared Joshua's favorite dishes and a batch of his favorite cookies as a farewell gift for him. Everybody (except Rosette) was very excited at the idea of Joshua joining the legendary Magdalan Order, so Joshua had a great time talking about all the things he planned to do once he became a member of the Militia, the elite forces of the Order. Rosette listened to him patiently, forcing herself to be cheerful. Joining the Order was nothing but a dream for most children their age, and she wanted Joshua to enjoy his last night at the orphanage instead of making him worry.

Minister Remington came the next morning in the convent's car to pick Joshua up. All the children of the orphanage and Ms. Jean stood up in line outside the main entrance, waiting for Joshua, who was the last person to leave the house. Rosette stood up bravely next to the rest of kids. She had said goodbye to Joshua very quickly the night before and she didn't want to say anything more to him. She didn't want anybody to see her cry, specially not Joshua...

"Good morning Rosette. How are you today?" Minister Remington's kind voice interrupted her thoughts. "I'm fine, thanks." She said angrily, avoiding his face. She disliked Remington more than anybody else in the world, and was determined not to speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary. The boys considered him a real hero, and even Sarah and Nelly, her best friends, found him to be quite handsome, but she didn't agree with any of them. To her Minister Remington was nothing but an hypocrite who was only interested in Joshua for the supernatural powers he possessed, and all his attentions towards her only made her angry.

"Don't worry about Joshua, he will be fine with us. He will be coming back to visit you frequently, I promise." The tone on Remington's voice was very friendly, but it only annoyed Rosette, who just nodded and said nothing. Remington noticed her annoyance, but he kept talking, wanting her to open up a bit with him. He felt a little guilty about separating two siblings as close as Joshua and Rosette were, and he didn't want her to have the wrong idea about his intentions. "I know how you must be feeling about Joshua, but you two won't be separated forever. He will become a powerful member of the Order, I promise you." He said. Rosette nodded again, still avoiding his gaze. What did the stupid Minister know about her feelings, anyway?

Joshua walked towards them smiling, wanting to hug his sister once last time before going away. "I'll see you soon, sis!" Was everything he managed to say. "Yeah." Said Rosette simply, giving her brother a quick hug. Joshua got into the car then, and waved towards Ms. Jean and everybody else enthusiastically. Remington opened the car's door on the driver's seat and waved at Rosette, but she didn't even look in his direction. She kept waving at Joshua until the car reached the nearby road and disappeared from sight.

All the children started to go back inside the building, but Rosette stood outside a while longer, making a big effort to hold back her tears. Ms. Jean walked towards her, smiling gently. "Get inside, Rosette, breakfast is almost ready!"

"I'm not hungry." Said Rosette in a small voice. "Can I go to the forest for a bit?" Ms. Jean nodded, understanding. "Yes, you can, but don't come back too late. Here." She gave Rosette a carefully wrapped bundle. "I saved some of yesterday's cookies for Joshua's journey, buy he forgot to take them." Rosette tried hard to smile. Joshua always left something behind wherever he went. "Thanks." She said, and started to run towards the forest as quickly as she could, fighting back the tears.

Rosette kept running until she could barely breathe, and even then she continued to walk towards the place Joshua and herself had discovered the day before. She walked for more than an hour, until she finally found the path that lead towards the clearing where Chrno's resting place was. Rosette stopped for a moment to catch her breath, thinking about him. Had he gone away too? Would he like to see her, or would he just tell her to go away, like he did the day before? She really wanted to know...

Rosette walked towards the entrance to the underground passageway, almost afraid to look inside. What if he was no longer there? Rosette took a step inside and looked around, trying to figure out where the entrance to the old room was. It was earlier than yesterday when Joshua and her went inside for the first time, and the tunnel was even darker than before. She put her hand on the wall for guidance and walked inside cautiously.

Chrno was sitting in the stone bed, feeling too weak to even stand. His powers were gone, and his level of Astral energy, his very own life-force, was dangerously low, thanks to the seal that had been put on him. _So this is what it feels to be dying, huh._ He thought bitterly. _But I won't die like this. No matter what, I won't die until I kill all of you!_ He clenched his fist in anger. All he needed to survive was a human, somebody willing to use his or her life to remove the seal, even if it was temporarily...

"Mr. Chrno? Are you still there?" Rosette's small voice reached his ears from the tunnel, along with her soft steps, which were slowly coming closer. Chrno raised his head, almost unable to believe his good luck. He smiled for himself. This was just the opportunity he was waiting for, and he was not going to miss it again...

To be continued...

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Sorry for the long lengthof the chapter folks! Next chapter will be a bit shorter, maybe... anyway, please tell me what you think, even something like "I love the story" is more than enough for me to keep writing it!! Constructive criticism is also more than welcome... please? ;


	2. The dusk of a long night

**Tears of innocence**

---Chapter 2: The dusk of a long night

"Mr. Chrno? Are you still there?" Rosette called softly, her voice echoing through the long and dark passageway. There was no response for a few moments, and Rosette's face fell. _So he's gone, huh._ She thought, tears already forming in her eyes. She had wanted to see him again, even if it was for a moment just to see if he was alright... she felt responsible for him, and the thought that he had left, alone and lost after 200 years of being in that dark place was really bothering her. She shouldn't have left him in that state… Rosette walked a few steps more, and was about to sit down and cry her eyes out, when she heard his deep, yet soft voice coming from the room at the end of the dark hallway.

"Little girl? Is that you?" He said, his tone of voice completely different from yesterday. It was almost friendly, unlike the harsh tone he had when he first met Joshua and her. Rosette ran towards the room, which was considerably brighter than the hallway due to the soft glow of the Latin letters on the walls. Chrno's tall figure was clearly visible, sitting on top of the big stone bed, looking very weak, yet somehow glad to see her.

Rosette walked inside, feeling immensely relieved. She was so glad at seeing him again, that she momentarily forgot about Joshua's parting and smiled at him. "Good morning, Mr. Chrno. How are you today?"

Chrno forced himself to smile. He didn't like anybody to see him like this, so pathetically weak that he could barely stand, but there was nothing he could do. The girl and her Apostle brother were the only means he had to survive, and he would not turn them away again. "I'm fine. You came alone today? Where is your brother?" He asked, trying to appear friendly. He had to admit, however, that he didn't mind too much to see the girl once more. There was something about her that made him very curious... why had she come back to see him? Why wasn't she scared, after everything he said the day before?

Rosette's smiled faded a bit upon remembering Joshua's parting. "He... he went away. I won't see him until next year, maybe." The tears that she had managed to hold back suddenly fell from her eyes, and she suddenly stepped forward and embraced him, sobbing, head pressed against his hard chest. Chrno froze. What was she doing? He knew nothing about human emotions, so he just stared at the girl's golden hair and patted her head awkwardly, not sure if that was the right thing to do. Why was she even crying? She would see her brother soon, wouldn't she? A year was such a short time, after all... then again, human lives were so short, that a year probably meant far more to her than it did to him. "I see." He didn't really know what to say. This was so foreign to him... "Where did he go, anyway?" He said after a while, wanting to change the subject so he could at least understand what was going on.

Rosette pulled away from him slowly, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. She felt a lot better after letting her emotions run free for a bit, away from the rest of the kids at the orphanage. All of them were her friends, but she wanted someone who wouldn't feel sorry for her, someone who would leave her to cry all she wanted without trying to console her with the same old phrases she always heard. "You will see him again soon", "You should be happy for him", "You can write to him", "He will be coming to visit you soon." This last phrase made her remember Minister Remington's face, and she felt a small surge of anger. Joshua would no longer live with her, she wouldn't see his face everyday like she used to. His visits were going to be short and far between, and they would be separated again. Why should she feel glad for that? She knew that Joshua and her were going to go separate ways when they were older, but this was too soon… she wasn't ready to let go of him yet. She looked at Chrno's face, totally devoid of sympathy, yet still making an effort to understand her, and she decided to tell him everything. She sat down next to him, and began to speak.

"A week ago, a minister from the Magdalan Order came to the orphanage, saying that he had heard rumors in the town that there was a boy who could heal people." She said. "The minister wanted to meet Joshua, and after making him some questions, he said that Joshua was an Apostle, and that he had to take him away with him to the headquarters of the Order in New York so he could train to become an exorcist." Rosette's voice was calm, but she couldn't hide her sadness, nor her resentment towards the minister everybody but her considered such a great hero.

Chrno's body stiffened. The Magdalan Order. He had never heard of it before, but it ringed a bell. _It couldn't possibly be..._ he thought, forcing himself to remain calm. "What is the Magdalan Order?" He asked almost indifferently, despite the sudden racing of his heart. Magdalan Order... the name certainly reminded him of... he clenched his fist.

Rosette made a small pause before answering, afraid that he would throw her away like he did the day before once he heard her answer. "It's a sort of army that specializes in fighting demons... but I don't like them!" She added quickly. "They only care about Joshua because of his powers, and they don't even allow me to visit him!" Chrno was a bit amused at her indignant tone, but his face remained serious. Rosette continued. "You see, the Magdalan Order is very famous all around the world, because there was a big war a long time ago between humans and demons, and they fought against them and won." Chrno's body tensed, but he forced himself to remain calm and listen to everything she had to say. Rosette continued. "Anyway, Minister Remington is very famous because of his deeds in the last demon invasion..." She told Chrno what she knew about the hordes of demons that had attacked some cities in the recent past, trying to make light of the fact that he was talking to someone who considered himself a demon, even if he really didn't look like one.

Chrno listened attentively, absorbing every bit of information. He needed to know what was going on in the world before deciding what to do, so he nodded in encouragement and pretended to be friendly. "So what's this Minister's position in the Magdalan Order?" He asked tentatively. "He's a member of the Militia, the elite forces of the Order." Rosette answered. "Everybody says that he's been in a lot of battles and that he's a real hero, but I really don't agree with them. He doesn't care about me, he only pretends to be nice because the Order needs Joshua's powers, that's all." Chrno nodded. Apostle power was indeed priceless. "And how many years has it been since the big war you mentioned?" He asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Hmm... about 200 years, I think." She answered, trying to remember the exact date. "Hey, weren't you at the war too?" She asked, suddenly remembering that Chrno had been sealed for about the same time. Chrno avoided her gaze to look at the ceiling. _So demons lost the war after what happened to me... not surprising._ He thought. "Maybe." It was all he could answer. There were too many things on his mind at the moment...

Rosette didn't ask him more about that. His past really didn't matter to her and she wanted him to trust her, so she decided to let him keep his secrets to himself. She looked at his somber face for a moment, trying to think about what to say, when she suddenly remembered the cookies Mrs. Jean had given her more than an hour ago.

"Hey, are you hungry?" He turned his head to look at her. "Mrs. Jean, our guardian, prepared Joshua's favorite cookies yesterday. Try them, they're really good!" She said enthusiastically, trying to cheer him up.

"No thank you, I'm not hungry." He replied, which was mostly true. What he needed was Astral energy. Being almost deprived of it was somewhat similar to starving, and he longed to feel the rush of energy flowing through his body once again...

"Oh, come on, at least try one!" Rosette insisted, with her friendly, yet slightly commanding tone. "Cookies can cheer you up if you feel sad. Well, that's what Mrs. Jean said to Joshua once, and it really worked."

Chrno fixed his gaze at the girl. He really wanted to be alone, but if he wanted to gain the girl's trust and be free from the seal, he would do anything, even something as embarrassing as following a little girl's suggestion. "Thank you." He said forcefully, taking one of the cookies and eating it. Human food was not really bad like he had imagined it, but it wouldn't help him recover his energy either. "It's really good." He said, trying to be polite despite the lack of enthusiasm in his voice.

"Yeah, isn't it?" Said Rosette, glad that he didn't turn her away like he did the day before. "Those are Joshua's favorite cookies. He's always telling Mrs. Jean to make some for him... or used to, at least... Mrs. Jean gave these to him as a farewell gift, but he forgot to take them. He's so silly, he always leaves something behind wherever we go. Can you believe it?" She was speaking almost to herself now. Chrno just shrugged, still at loss for words. "Anyway," she continued, "he is such a nice brother... I'm really going to miss him. I'm sure you two would be good friends, he was really excited about meeting you, even when he didn't say anything about it." Rosette made a pause. "Hey, tell me... what's your favorite food?" She asked, wanting to change the topic before she started crying again.

His favorite food? What kind of question was that? Did something like that even mattered at that moment? "I don't know, I guess it would be cookies if they existed in the place I come from." He said, a faint hint of humor on his voice. Cookies, yeah. The food she had given him the day before was not bad, but the cookies were a lot better... he took another one and ate it, trying hard to smile.

Rosette smiled warmly at him. It was so strange, they had just met only the day before, and they knew practically nothing about one another, yet she felt strangely connected to him, as if he was a long time friend. She didn't know if he felt the same way, but she really wanted to believe it. He needed a friend, and she wanted to take care of him like she did with Joshua, though in a very different way... Joshua was a sickly boy, and Chrno was an adult, much older and more experienced than she was, yet he seemed to be so lonely, that she couldn't help but to think of him as an abandoned boy.

"Why don't we go outside? This place is so cold, and it feels dreadful." She said amiably, raising from the stone bed and offering her small hand to him. Chrno sighed internally. He didn't think he had enough energy to walk, but he couldn't stay in there forever, either. He took Rosette's hand and raised slowly, wincing due to the effort. He'd never been so low in Astral energy, and he could tell that he didn't have long to live, a few days more, maybe even a few weeks... but no more than that.

"Are you alright? You don't seem too good... here, let me help you!" Rosette put her arm around his waist and offered her support. Chrno put his hand on her shoulder, and started to walk slowly, leaning a bit on her. He felt so weak, but he wouldn't give up... not now, not ever. He had to keep fighting...

Rosette and Chrno got out of the room and walked very slowly through the long dark hall towards the entrance. Each step was a big effort for Chrno, but he endured it without saying anything, his face hard and set. Only a little bit more… they finally got out of the tunnel and reached the edge of the forest towards the river, where Chrno's knees finally gave way and he leaned back against a tree, breathing hard. The seal on his chest was burning slightly, but that wasn't bothering him as much as the feeling of being completely vulnerable, his life in the hands of a small human girl that knew nothing about him.

"Is there anything I can do to help you? Are you still hungry? Do you want some water?" Rosette asked nervously, worry evident in her eyes. To see her new friend so weak, so tired after only a short walk made her feel terrible.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Said Chrno, resting his head against the tree and looking up at the sky. He really didn't want to speak to anybody, he only wanted to sleep... funny, he had been in a deep slumber for almost 2 centuries, but that had been induced by the seal placed on him, and he longed for a bit of natural sleep, even if it would bring him nightmares. Yet he knew that sleep in his current state wouldn't help him recover. It would only make him lose precious time, which was running out for him, unless the seal was removed, at least partially...

"But you don't look so good." Said Rosette, sitting next to him and looking at his face worriedly. "Can demons get sick too?" Chrno almost snorted. Demons, sick... obviously the girl knew nothing about demons, which was probably why she wasn't afraid of him.

"No, I'm not sick. I'm just lacking Astral Energy." He said simply, still not looking at her.

"Astral energy? What is that?" Asked Rosette, a bit confused. Chrno sighed, not wanting to explain everything to her just know, though he knew he had to.

"Astral energy is something we demons need to live. You see, the source of life for all creatures in the planet is an invisible river of energy, called the Astral Line. It's said this river flows directly from Heaven, and falls upon the earth. When a human is conceived, its soul is formed within the Astral Line, and descends upon it to give life to a new creature." Rosette nodded. She had heard that before, though the way he said that had made it sound like something new, something magical...

Chrno continued speaking. "Before I was locked on that place, I was sealed, and that seal doesn't allow me to gather energy directly from its source. What I need now is a human willing to help me." He said, still not looking at her, yet watching every movement out of the corner of his eyes.

"Oh, I see... and how can a human help you?" Said Rosette curiously. Maybe she could help him gain some Astral energy, though she had no idea about how to do it.

Chrno chose his next words carefully. It was too soon for him to reveal his intentions to the little girl, and if he spoke too hastily, she would most probably refuse to help him and go away. Much as he hated to admit it, she was the only means to his salvation he had at the moment. If he was a bit stronger, he would look for somebody else more... appropriate, somebody who wasn't a child and who would accept to offer his life in exchange for his services. Humans were greedy, there were lots of people who would want to have a powerful demon at their service, regardless of the cost. However, his time was running out... he couldn't hesitate if he wanted to get what he needed.

"Tell me, little girl. Are you really willing to help me?" He asked, fixing his gaze in Rosette's blue eyes with intensity. Rosette nodded, not taking her eyes from his. "Of course!" She exclaimed. There was just no way she would let down a person in need without her doing something... "Even if we've just met, you are still my friend." She said resolutely.

_Her friend... if only she knew._ Chrno thought. He spoke slowly, fixing her gaze hard on her. "There is something you could do for me... however, it won't be easy, and it will probably hurt a lot." Rosette's eyes widened, but she remained silent, allowing him to continue. "I need you to remove the seal they put on me, so I can recover my powers. It's not something easy to do... to remove the seal from me, you have to offer your life in exchange. In other words, your life would sustain me, until I can find a way to break the seal entirely." His eyes bore into hers. "You would have the power to seal or unseal me at will, and I would become your servant. I would do anything you asked me to do, no matter how difficult."

"But what... what do you mean when you said that my life would sustain you?" Asked Rosette, already dreading his words, though she didn't understand everything he just said.

Chrno sighed. There was no way the girl would accept his offer, unless...

_Unless you tell her the whole truth, Chrno._ His inner voice said. That meant telling her about his weaknesses, letting her know just how vulnerable he really was. That meant that he had to trust her, and hope that she wouldn't speak about him to anybody... even if he risked losing everything again. But such was life, and though he hated doing this, he would do it if it meant getting what he wanted.

"The seal placed on me doesn't allow me to get the energy I need to live. So, in order to survive, I have to take the Astral energy I need from you. Humans have a certain amount of Astral inside them... their lives are longer or shorter depending on how much Astral energy they have left. If I can't find a human willing to help me, I will die in a few days at most." He said, now avoiding her gaze. He didn't want her pity, so he fell silent, angry at himself. To think that a demon as powerful as he had been would be reduced to this state... It would have been better to die. He thought. But not without a fight... there were a lot of things he wanted to do, and he would stop at nothing to reach his goal. If the girl was afraid and didn't help him, then he would do something about it...

"I see. So... what do I need to do then?" Said Rosette in a small, yet determined voice, making him fix his eyes at her again, almost incredulous. Was she really serious about helping him? If so, then why? Why would she even want to help a stranger like him? What did she want in return? He studied her face carefully. Rosette's face had become a bit pale upon hearing his words, yet she didn't look like she wanted to leave him alone. Why?

"You need to put your hand on my chest and repeat the words I will tell you." He said cautiously, expecting Rosette to back away at any moment. He continued speaking, studying all her reactions. "Once the contract is made, your life will flow towards me, and the seal on me will disappear."

Rosette just nodded slowly, eyes a bit wide with fear, yet her face was set and determined. Her voice however, trembled a bit, clearly betraying her feelings. "You... you said that you would take the Astral energy you need from me, right? Tell me, am I going to die? How much time would I have left?" She said, in an almost imperceptible voice.

Chrno looked at her, a faint feeling of doubt tugging at the back of his mind. He quickly pushed it away, though, even as he made the decision of being honest with her. If the girl chose to make a contract with him after hearing what he had to say, then he wouldn't feel responsible for her. It was her choice, after all…

"I don't know. How long you live depends on you alone. I will take away the energy I need... how much you have left after that, I'm not exactly sure. Enough to live a few years more, probably, if you take care of yourself."

Rosette breathed a sigh of relief. For a few moments, she had though that she wouldn't live enough to see Joshua again... and though the idea of dying young scared her, she also knew that she just couldn't live with the thought of abandoning a person in need to die, so she just nodded in agreement and got closer to Chrno, putting her right hand above his heart, which was beating faintly. She closed her eyes for a few moments, and took a deep breath, trying to gather her courage. "So... what do I need to say?" She asked, lowering her gaze. She was really nervous...

Chrno put his hand on her chin and forced her to look at him, locking his ruby-red eyes on her deep blue ones. There were so many emotions hidden in those big eyes... worry, sadness, fear... but above everything, a strong emotion he was completely unfamiliar with. An emotion that overwhelmed everything else... but what was it? Pity? Much as he hated to admit it, it was exactly what he needed at the moment, but there was something else... something he had never seen in anyone's eyes.

"Do you accept giving your life to me?" He asked. Rosette nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. "Very well… then I will make a contract with you..." He held Rosette's hand to his chest in an a very strong, almost painful grip. "I accept your offering, and I will give you my services in return." He said, not turning his eyes away from hers. "Now, say your name and repeat after me... I accept, and seal this contract with my own life force " He ordered.

"I... Rosette Christopher... accept and seal this contract... with my life force..." Rosette whispered nervously, not completely understanding what Chrno meant by "Life force". She opened her mouth to ask him what exactly did that mean, when a sudden cold, dreadful feeling washed over her and she nearly fell over Chrno's chest, who was still holding her hand directly over his heart.

The seal on his chest started glowing suddenly, and Chrno closed his eyes tightly, his chest suddenly raising as he had received a sudden electric shock. Rosette wanted to scream, to ask him what was happening, when a sudden sharp, almost agonizing pain, nearly pierced her heart. She fell forward, clutching her chest with her free hand. Just what was happening? She felt as if all the blood on her body was flowing out of her. The hand that was placed on Chrno's chest, started to burn, and a soft red light started to glow below it. The last thing Rosette could see before falling unconscious, was an almost imperceptible smile on Chrno's lips as he continued to hold her hand over his heart almost possessively...

When Rosette opened her eyes at last, the sun was already hiding behind the mountains and a few stars were shining on the darkening red sky. How many hours had she been asleep? She raised her head a little, feeling horribly weak. What had happened? Where was Chrno?

"At last you're awake." A deep, yet soft voice spoke near her. "I was starting to think you were going to die." Rosette turned her head towards the direction of the familiar sound. "Chrno? Are you alri..." She stopped suddenly, surprised at the sight of the stranger next to her.

It was a tall demon, looking at her with impassible golden eyes. He had two ivory horns on both sides of his head, long furry ears and large dark wings on his back. His face looked very familiar, though he had what looked like 3 red jewels embedded on his forehead. His hand, that he lightly put on her forehead, had long sharp claws instead of nails, and his chest was bare, covered only with what looked like a dark cape around his wide shoulders. Rosette blinked several times, until her feverish mind could finally recognize who the stranger was.

"Chr... Chrno?" She asked softly, not fully believing her eyes. "Is that really you?"

To Be Continued...

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Thank you very, very, VERY much for your kind comments, everyone!! Please tell me what you think of this chapter feedback is always appreciated!! hugs

Next chapter will be ready in a couple of weeks, so please stay tuned! Love you all!


	3. Darkness Falls

**Tears of innocence**

---Chapter 3: Darkness Falls

"I... Rosette Christopher... accept and seal this contract... with my life force..." The moment Rosette nervously whispered those words, a strong current of Astral energy flowed from her to Chrno, instantly saturating him with a welcome rush of power that filled his body, mind and senses with a thrill unknown to any human. It felt wonderful... his heart raced and his body felt warm after nearly two centuries of being deprived of what demons most wanted and he desperately needed: Astral power. He clutched Rosette's hand to his chest unconsciously, not wanting the flow of energy to stop, even as she grimaced in pain and tried to put her hand away, while her life force was transferred from her to him until the seal on his chest disappeared and the contract was forged. Rosette then fell face forward over him, unconscious, and Chrno released his possessive hold on her, feeling renewed and valorized, as if the many years he had been trapped in that dark hole were nothing but a bad dream. He felt strong again, finally able to regain his true form and leave that forsaken place forever...

He put Rosette to the side as if she was a simple rag doll and stood up, extending his wings as he stretched luxuriously. Oh yes... this was so much better than the pathetically weak state he had been only a few minutes before, all thanks to a small incautious human. Speaking of which... he looked down at the small figure of Rosette, who was curled up in a fetal position, and had a faint expression of suffering on her face. She was obviously in pain, like he knew she would be. He crouched next to her and put her blonde pigtails away from her face, studying her carefully. He had made her a promise, that he would pay his debt with services. Chrno thought hard about that. Though the girl had temporarily removed the seal placed on him, he still couldn't access the energy of the Astral Line, and had to rely on her life to use his powers. He wanted nothing better than to go away from the place and look for a way to break the seal entirely, but looking at the girl's face now, he found out that he couldn't just break his promise and leave her alone. He had taken a lot of energy from her… she wouldn't live more than a few years more, and he had a debt of honor he needed to pay.

He picked her up in his arms and carefully put her down to rest over a big bunch of leaves below a wide tree so she could at least rest comfortably. He studied her features for a few moments, still intrigued by her apparent generosity in offering her life to a stranger such as him. What could she want in return? He sat next to her and looked at the sky, thinking hard. Maybe humans and demons weren't that different... they always wanted something they couldn't have, no matter how big the price to themselves was...

Several hours passed before Rosette finally opened her eyes and looked around her. Chrno spoke before she could say anything, noting her confusion. "At last you're awake." He said in a low voice. "I was starting to think you were going to die."

Rosette turned her head towards him. "Chrno? Are you alri..." She stopped suddenly, looking surprised. She stared at his face for a few moments, apparently not recognizing him. Well, he couldn't blame her... he did look different. Still, he couldn't help but to feel a bit annoyed. What did she think he was?

"Chr... Chrno?" Rosette asked softly, blue eyes wide while looking at him. "Is that really you?" She made an effort to raise herself from the place where Chrno had put her, but she felt so dizzy, that she had to lie down again and just raised her head a little to look at him. He looked very different, even though his facial features, his voice and his body structure were exactly the same.

"Don't move. You're very weak, you need to rest." He answered, putting his large hand on her forehead. "Yes it's me. Who else were you expecting?" He said, looking at her surprised expression with barely repressed annoyance. "I told you I was a demon... this is actually my real form."

"I... I see... but why didn't you look like that before?" She asked, closing her eyes softly and feeling grateful for having his warm hand against her forehead. She was so cold...

"The seal placed on me didn't allow me to use this form, so I was stuck looking like a human until the seal was finally released." He said, frowning. The girl looked so weak... why were humans so fragile? "Guess you would have never awoken me if you had seen my real form from the start, would you?" He smiled sarcastically, yet his voice had a bitter edge to it that made Rosette open her eyes. She finally sat up, with a big effort, and carefully embraced him.

"That's not true..." She said reassuringly, thinking that Chrno was feeling insecure of himself, the way that Joshua sometimes did. She tried to pat his head, but thought better of it, and just rested her forehead against his bare chest. "You are my friend. And I think your real form is really cool!" She added, looking up at his face and smiling, despite feeling weak and a little dizzy.

Chrno's body tensed. What was she trying to do? It wasn't as if he'd really care about what she'd think of him... that was inconsequential. He was the girl's servant now, and he needed to take care of her if he wanted his contractor, his very own source of energy, to live longer, until he could figure out a way of breaking the seal permanently. He didn't need, nor want, her sympathy anymore, so there was no need for him to keep pretending to be friendly with her, was it? Still, he had a debt with her that he needed to pay... Chrno backed away from Rosette and looked down at her. "It doesn't really matter now, does it? You forged a contract with me, that's the only thing that is important."

She nodded and smiled weakly. "You're right... but what happened to me? I feel very strange... as if all the blood in my body disappeared..." How funny... she had just slept for hours, yet she still felt very tired and slightly breathless, as if she had just ran all the way there. She could barely keep her eyes open...

"Well, that's partly true. I took a lot of energy from you, and you also lost a lot of your life force when the contract was made. It flowed from you to me until the contract was sealed."

"But what do you mean by life force? I wanted to ask you before, but..."

"Your 'life force' means your own blood. It was needed to seal the contract between us." He said, looking away from her. He felt a bit uncomfortable, for some odd reason he really couldn't figure out. Was he feeling sorry for her? That couldn't be. He had never shown any signs of such weaknesses before...

"Oh, I see..." Was all that Rosette could say. So that was why she was feeling so cold inside... "But," She added cheerfully, noticing Chrno's awkward behavior. "you look so much better now! I'm so glad."

"I think you should return to your home now. It's getting late." Chrno said, standing up and looking down at her with impassible eyes. "Get up. I will fly you there."

Rosette looked at him, surprised. "You will fly me there?! Really?!" She stood up in a moment, with suddenly renewed energy. She still felt dizzy, but she ignored that and took Chrno's hand eagerly. "It's not too far away from here, but be careful, I'm very heavy! Are you sure you can carry me?" She sounded extremely hopeful, yet worried at the same time.

Chrno just snorted. "Of course I can. What do you take me for?" He said, scooping her up easily and taking her in his arms as if she was as light as a feather. "Where is that place of yours?"

"Down the river. It's a big white building and... AAAAAAAHHH!!" She screamed, a bit out of breath, as she was suddenly swept into the air in his arms. They soared over the top of the tallest trees in an instant, before she could even finish what she was about to say. Rosette, however, soon forgot everything that had happened until now, including her own weakened state and the horrible pain she experienced felt only a few hours ago. This was incredible... even better than what she imagined it would feel. She had often wished she could fly like an eagle when she was younger, but this was real and not just an impossible dream... "Whoa... this is amazing, Chrno!" She said when she finally recovered her breath.

Chrno smiled, almost despite himself. Oh, how he had missed this... the feeling of the rush of wind beneath his wings, the feeling of being filled with energy, the feeling of being free… he closed his eyes for a brief moment, allowing himself a few seconds of enjoyment before opening his eyes again and concentrating hard on the matter at hand. He couldn't be wasting energy, not until he could access the power of the Astral Line again. He had to keep his contractor alive, at least until he could find an alternate source of energy.

He descended swiftly, landing a few yards away of the fence that surrounded the orphanage's grounds with ease, and put Rosette down, much to her disappointment. She wanted to keep flying… she didn't say anything of this, though, and just looked up at Chrno, smiling happily. "Thank you!" She said simply.

Chrno turned around without saying anything, and was about to go away, when Rosette took his hand and pulled it softly. "Wait a minute!" She said. "You must be hungry... let me bring you something to eat."

"Don't bother. I don't need your food, and I don't want anybody else to see me either." He said, a bit harshly, though he immediately softened his tone a bit. "You should go now... you can go see me tomorrow, if you want." With that, he opened his wings and disappeared into the night in an instant, leaving Rosette standing alone for a few moments, still a bit unable to believe everything that had happened to her in the last two days. She turned around and ran inside the orphanage, suddenly remembering that it was past dinnertime and that she had been out of the house for hours.

Mrs. Jean was indeed worried sick about her, even more than the day before, and she gave Rosette a very long speech about her disobedience and everything that could happen to children that ignored adult's warnings without thinking of the consequences. Rosette tried hard to listen to everything she said, feeling very remorseful for upsetting her normally kind guardian, but her mind was still far away, at the place where Chrno was... Her eyelids soon started to close, but she forced herself to stay awake. She really felt sick, but she didn't want her guardian to notice that. If she did, she wouldn't allow her to leave her room in at least 3 days, and she would be unable to see Chrno, so she put on a brave face until Mrs. Jean finally dismissed her. She went to her room then, feeling exhausted, though still unable to sleep due to the many things on her mind. She lay awake on her bed for almost an hour, thinking of the sudden turn on events in her life during the past days. Joshua... what could he be doing at the moment? Had he arrived at New York yet? He would have loved to fly with her over the top of the trees... he would be scared of the height, but he would surely enjoy the ride... Rosette fell asleep with a few tears staining her pillow. Joshua...

The next day, Rosette got up before dawn, got dressed and sneaked outside through the kitchen's door, running towards Chrno's resting place before anyone in the orphanage got up, despite her weakened state. It was Sunday, which meant that everybody would probably get up later than usual, so Mrs. Jean wouldn't notice her absence until breakfast, or perhaps until Sunday Mass.

She nearly ran all the way to where the underground tunnel was and finally fell on her knees, exhausted and out of breath, in front of the clearing where the entrance was. She rested there for a few minutes before getting up and walking slowly to where Chrno was.

Chrno was asleep below a big tree, but he sensed Rosette's presence nearby and opened his eyes before she could even see him. "You came early today." He said simply. Rosette turned around and her face brightened upon seeing him. "Ah, there you are! Good morning!" She said cheerfully, walking towards Chrno and pulling out a small bag from her pocket. "I brought you more cookies... they're not too many, but I'll get you more later, I promise!" She sat down next to him and offered him the bag, looking up to stare at his beautiful golden eyes.

"I've already told you I don't really need your food." Said Chrno, yet at Rosette's insistence, he opened the bag and took one cookie, eating it while Rosette continued to stare at him, studying all the details of his face that she couldn't see clearly the day before due to the darkness of the falling night. He looked so handsome, even if his face was a bit different than what it was before, he still looked a prince. Her prince...

"It's there something on my face?" Asked Chrno, a bit irritated.

Rosette blinked and blushed, getting up immediately. "Oh no, not at all! Sorry... it's just that I had never seen a demon up close before..." She reached one of her small hands to scratch behind one of his furry ears, like she would do with a puppy, but he flinched and backed away from her, looking at her with narrow eyes. "Stop that." He growled. "I'm not a toy you can play with. I'm a demon who has a contract with you, not a pet... don't ever think you can treat me like the same as the people you live with!" His voice was harsh, yet what he said was true... there were a few things she needed to understand if she wanted to deal with him. It was better that way... for the both of them.

Rosette's lowered her gaze, embarrassed and a little remorseful. "I... I'm sorry... you're right. I won't do that again." She felt really bad at herself. She really didn't mean to offend him in any way...

Chrno sighed. Oh well... if she understood what he meant, then... "It's fine." He said, his voice softening a little, almost unconsciously. "Just don't do it again."

"Alright! No harm done then...but I have to go now, before Mrs. Jean notices that I'm away. She was very annoyed yesterday, and if I don't hurry back home, I won't be able to see you in a while..." She trailed off.

Chrno shrugged. "You don't have to come here every day." He said. Rosette nodded, a bit disappointed. "Y... yeah... but..."

"However, you can come see me in the afternoons, if you want." He interrupted. "I'll give you a ride back before anybody notices that you're gone." He almost regretted his words as soon as he finished saying them. Rosette nearly jumped on him, smiling brightly. She couldn't believe her luck.

"You... you will? Really?! Yay! Thanks Chrno!" She said enthusiastically. "I'll come to see you everyday then, and will bring you delicious food, I promise!" She said, rising up before he could even open his mouth to protest. "I'll come back here later then. See ya!!" She waved once and then ran back the orphanage, all her sickness forgotten for the moment in the prospect of seeing his new friend everyday and be carried away in his arms flying, like a princess in a fairy-tale story. Her happiness decreased a little, however, upon remembering her brother. Joshua would have loved to see it... she sighed. She would write a letter to him. She had so many things to say...

The following days passed very quickly. Rosette would sneak off to the forest an hour after lunchtime, and would come back a few hours later, before dinnertime. Sarah, Nelly, Kevin and Billy, her closest friends, soon noticed her strange behavior and started to ask her about her mysterious disappearances, but she managed to avoid their questions without giving Chrno away. Her health, however, was not as good as it used to be... she would sometimes feel exhausted and sleepy for no reason, but Chrno had assured her that her condition was only temporary, and that she would feel stronger once her body recovered from the blood loss. Indeed, Rosette felt a little better day after day, though she still didn't know how long her life was going to be... she tried not to think about that, though. She soon started getting letters from Joshua, and that helped her to improve her mood. Joshua was okay, he missed her greatly, but he was fine. At least she didn't need to worry about him...

One summer day she received a letter from Joshua, and she ran towards Chrno as soon as she could, arriving at their usual meeting place much earlier than usual. "Chrno! Chrno! Look!" She shouted as soon as she saw him. "I got another letter from Joshua!"

Chrno raised up his gaze from the book that he was reading, a history textbook that Rosette had given him at his request so he could learn everything that happened in the world during his long slumber. The book was highly biased against demons, understandably, but that only amused him. "What does it say?" He muttered calmly at the breathless, yet happy girl.

"Oh... well... not much really... he only talks about all the things he's learning at the Magdalan Order's convent." Chrno listened attentively. The boy was a valuable source of information. "I see. So what else does he say?" He asked, hiding his real motives for his interest in Joshua's letter under a somewhat friendly tone.

Rosette read the letter out loud to him, while he only nodded. So the Magdalan Order was training this boy to become a member of the Militia by helping him use his powers against some low-class Legions, demons with no name or rank that he considered as nothing but trash... this was interesting. It would help him know the way his enemies worked...

Once she finished the letter, Rosette gave him a small package with the leftovers from the day's lunch. She had asked for a double ration of everything, so she could give it to Chrno. Food was more of a luxury than a real necessity for demons, but Chrno always ate everything Rosette gave him, a bit reluctantly at first, but then later with almost a good mood, once he discovered that human food was not as bad as he thought it was. Rosette was always glad of seeing him eating the food she provided for him, which was the least she could do for her at the moment...

Chrno leaned against a tree after he finished the food, looking at the afternoon sky. He had been feeling a bit uneasy lately, though he didn't exactly know why. Yet he had a vague feeling that his demonic instincts were trying to warn him about something... "I think you should go back." He told Rosette, who was resting on the grass next to him. Rosette opened her eyes and looked at him. "Why? It's still very early... I'm sure nobody has noticed that I'm gone yet."

"It's for your own good." He replied. "I feel that something's not right. And my instinct is seldom wrong. Come on, I will take you back." He said, standing up and offering his hand to her. Rosette stood up eagerly. Despite wanting to stay with him a little longer, she always looked forward to the ride back home, though once she was back at the orphanage, she longed to see Chrno again. He was completely different from all the adults she knew, and always listened to everything she said... she could confide in him all the things that happened to her during the day, something she couldn't do with Mrs. Jean or her friends at the orphanage, no matter how much they cared for her. Chrno was special, he never judged her or tried to give her any unsolicited advice, and he sometimes said the most beautiful things in those rare moments when he spoke of the things he knew...

The ride back home was as swift as ever, and they landed several yards away from the orphanage, at a small clearing behind the back door of the main building. Rosette jumped to the ground and waved back to Chrno before running inside the house. She had seen Minister Remington's car parked nearby... what had he come back for?

Chrno simply only turned and went back to where his "grave" was. The forest was unusually silent. There was something odd happening, but what could it be? He laid down to rest again against his favorite tree, but he kept his senses sharp, ready to act in case something happened. The hours went by in silence, until sure enough, he heard a rustle nearby. Someone was spying on him, he could tell that...

In a flicker of shadows, Chrno stood and prepared to attack his opponent, fangs and claws ready, until a faint familiar voice reached his ears. "Chrno? Are you awake?"

He relaxed a bit, seeing Rosette coming out from behind the trees to run at him. Her face, however, had a completely different expression than the happy one she usually wore. It was very troubled, with tears running down her cheeks and an almost desolate expression in her big eyes. "What is it? What happened?" He asked, looking around to see if there was something threatening her. Rosette jumped towards him and embraced him, crying desperately, reminding him of the day they made the contract, almost2 months ago...

"Joshua... Joshua is gone!" She sobbed, her words almost unintelligible. "Minister Remington came today to... to see me... he... he said that he... disappeared... almost a week ago... nobody knows why... they... they think he might be dead!!" Chrno's body tensed. An Apostle... disappearing. That really didn't make sense...

"Calm down." He ordered, pushing her away from him carefully and lifting her face up to stare at him. "Tell me what happened." Rosette took a big breath and slowly told him everything Minister Remington had told her. Joshua had disappeared during a training mission inside a supposedly abandoned house. Nobody had seen him leave the house, not even the Militia that had been on guard outside when he and Remington went in. It was a mystery... everybody had blamed it on a group of demons that had been roaming the outskirts of New York, but it was still strange. Normal demons knew better than to face an Apostle... didn't they? Rosette asked out loud.

Chrno remained silent, thinking about what she had said. That was indeed very strange... but not impossible. Not if a certain demon was behind all this… Chrno took Rosette back to her home once she calmed down a bit. He didn't really answer her question... he had many things to think about, so she just let her cry and only offered her a ride home.

Once he came back to where his resting place was, he stood over the marble block that marked the entrance to the underground tunnel and spoke in a very loud, yet calm, voice.

"I know you're there. You can come out now, Aion." He said smiling, fangs gleaming a bit under the pale moonlight...

To be continued…

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Many thanks for all your kind reviews!! They really keep me motivated. Please keep them coming!! The following chapter is in the works, but it's a bit difficult to write... so please tell me what you think of the story so far!

Love you all! (hugs)


	4. Surrounded by Shadows

**Tears of innocence**

---Chapter 4: Surrounded by Shadows

Rosette stood at the door of the orphanage, not wanting to come inside yet. She was a bit calmer after sharing with Chrno the news of her brother's mysterious disappearance, but she still felt a big hole inside her chest, and she wanted nothing more than to ran back to his place again and cry all night, though she knew it was impossible. She would only make Mrs. Jean even more worried than what she was already, and she knew she couldn't run away from the truth forever. Still, she didn't feel like seeing anybody's face at the moment, so she just stood there for a few minutes, gathering her courage, until she finally walked in, hoping to run away to her room as soon as possible.

"I'm back, Mrs. Jean." She muttered in a rather hoarse voice, her eyes on the floor. She felt really bad at herself now… she had disobeyed her kind guardian once again, and ran inside the forest to look for Chrno despite her warnings. She deserved to be punished...

"Welcome back Rosette, you had us really worried." Said Mrs. Jean gently, making Rosette feel even worse. "Sarah, Nelly, Billy and Kevin have told me that you have been going to the woods every day, and that you don't want to play with them like you used to. What's wrong, dear? Have you been missing Joshua that much?"

Rosette wasn't really good at making lies, so she just nodded and said nothing, not wanting to give Chrno away. Being silent was extremely unusual in her, since she was normally the type to speak up her mind, so Mrs. Jean took her silence as a 'Yes' and continued speaking in a very warm, motherly-like tone. "I'm sorry I haven't noticed that before... we all miss Joshua very much, but we worry about you too." Rosette nodded again, feeling tears forming again in her eyes. Joshua…

Mrs. Jean embraced Rosette and they stayed like that until some of the kids of the orphanage came and stared at them curiously, feeling bad for her. Rosette had always been their leader, and to see her so vulnerable made some of them a bit uncomfortable...

Mrs. Jean released her hold on Rosette and gave her a handkerchief so she could wipe her tears. "Now come with me Rosette, Minister Remington wants to speak to you." She said kindly. Rosette raised her head, almost unable to believe her ears. The minister wanted to see her NOW? That was as bad a punishment as she could think of, the mere idea of seeing that man again, specially after what happened to her dear brother partly because of _him_ was enough to make Rosette more than a little angry, but what could she do? She didn't want to disobey Mrs. Jean again, so she just lowered her head in defeat and followed her obediently into the room where Minister Remington was patiently waiting for them. He stood up from his chair as soon as they entered, and Mrs. Jean excused herself and left the two of them alone.

Remington looked at Rosette with a mixture of concern and pity that only annoyed her further, though she didn't say anything, tired as she was with all those feelings of sadness and worry weighing heavily on her heart. She avoided his eyes to stare at the window. What could Chrno be doing now? If only she could be with him, instead of having to face the stupid minister again... Chrno didn't pity her, Chrno never treated her like a child, Chrno always listened...

"How are you feeling now, Rosette?" The soft voice of the minister interrupted her thoughts, but she just shrugged. What did he expect her to say, after being informed of the sudden disappearance of her only relative?

"I know everything that's happened lately has been very hard on you." Remington continued, while Rosette listened half-heartedly, not looking directly at him. "I sincerely apologize for taking your brother away from you... it was something necessary, and it was vital that he was put under protection before our enemies got a hold of him. We never expected something like this to happen… the enemy's strength has increased way beyond our expectations. However, I think we still have a chance to rescue him."

Rosette was all ears now, all her thoughts about Chrno suddenly forgotten for the moment. "But... but you said he was probably dead!" She exclaimed, speaking for the first time. Remington smiled a bit at that, but his face became serious almost immediately.

"Yes, that's what some members at the Order prefer to think." He said, choosing his words carefully. "But I know some particular demons that might want to put his powers for a better use. I think that he's alive and well... somewhere inside Pandemonium."

"Pandemonium?!" Even the mere sound of it made her a bit afraid. "You mean the place where all demons come from? But if he's there... how can he be okay?" Despite her words though, she felt a spark of hope inside her. If Joshua was alive, then Chrno would be able to save him. All he needed to do was to go back to Pandemonium and take Joshua with him...

"Joshua is a very special boy... his powers can be good, if used correctly, however, they can be also cause a great tragedy if they are put to a bad use. I think demons know this already... that's why I don't think they killed him." He leaned on his chair, and looked at Rosette intently. "I can't guarantee that this is the absolute truth... it's only a strong possibility... however, I didn't come here just to tell you the news about Joshua. I also came to make you a proposal."

Rosette looked at him, not sure of how to react. A proposal? What could it be? It sounded a bit fishy, but she said nothing, waiting for his next words.

"I came to ask you to please come with me to the Magdalan Order. Like Joshua, you would be trained as an exorcist, and be put under my custody. You could investigate his disappearance, if you like. To be honest, I wanted you to come to the Order along with your brother, but I didn't have my superior's permission. After what happened, however, I think it's better for you to come with me... there have been reports of mysterious demonic activities nearby, and we need you to be out of danger."

Rosette was speechless for a moment, a million thoughts running inside her head at the same time. Go with him to the Magdalan Order and leave her friends and Chrno behind? Yet she knew she couldn't stay in the orphanage forever... she was 12 years old already, and she would have to leave the place when she was 15 anyway… still... Why did he want her to join? What did he want from her? Had he discovered Chrno's presence?

"Why do you want me to go with you to that place?" She asked at last. "I don't have any powers like my brother... and anyway, why do you need me to be out of danger? I thought it was my brother the one you were supposed to protect!" She exclaimed, a bit louder than what she intended, as her hot temper getting the better of her.

Remington made a pause before answering, his eyes a bit sad while looking at her. "It's true that I failed your trust, Rosette. But there's still hope for Joshua... and I have the feeling that this place will no longer be safe." He sighed, looking out of the window for a moment. "A long time ago... a very powerful demon was sealed near here. We don't know why, or how, but it seems that his seal has been broken." He made a pause, fixing his gaze on Rosette. "This particular demon is extremely dangerous... if we don't seal him again, there's no telling what he could do. And you're the sister of an Apostle, if he finds you, he could use you to his advantage."

Rosette eyes widened a bit at this, but she said nothing and just turned to look out of the window again. What the minister was saying was probably a lie, she knew Chrno better than anybody else…

_Chrno... what are you doing now?_ She thought.

Far away from her, at the center of the clearing in the middle of the thick forest, Chrno stood proudly, his wings flapping a bit under the cold night's breeze.

"I know you're there. You can come up now... Aion." Chrno said smiling. So he had been discovered at last... it was about time. A sound behind him made him turn, and sure enough, Aion was there, a few yards away from him, the moon shining over him as he walked slowly towards Chrno, his dark face revealing no emotions at all. Aion was serious for a few moments, until he couldn't control himself any longer and he smiled at his brother, shaking his head.

"Geeze Chrno, you never change." Said the tall, silver-haired demon, a hint of humor in his voice. "You're as slow as always."

"Not as slow as you are, my brother." Chrno replied, in the same tone. "Took you long enough to find me. I would have expected better from you."

"Not my fault." Aion sighed, a bit melodramatically. "They made sure to keep the location of your grave a secret, and put a holy seal in the entire area. You don't know how hard it was to come here... but come on, is that all you have to say to your dear twin brother, that you haven't seen in two centuries? Like I said, you never change... you're as unemotional as always."

Chrno snorted. "Oh please, look who's talking. All these years, and you still continue to be Pandemonium's loyal dog? Tell me, on whose orders did you come to find me?" He said, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Aion actually laughed a bit upon hearing this. "Oh, you're still so naïve... did you honestly think that I would sit still and do nothing for 200 years? I should be offended." He made a pause, fixing his gaze on Chrno's face. "No, my brother. I came here on my own. Pandemonium doesn't even know you're still alive... they all think you died in that damned battle, 2 centuries ago." He said, carefully studying the impact his words had on Chrno.

Chrno was indeed surprised, though his face remained calm while he pondered on Aion's words. "Oh is that so? How did you find me then?" He said, his voice a bit distrustful. They considered him dead? That sounded almost too good to be true...

Aion gave a small laugh. "You give me too little credit... I have spies in Pandemonium's top levels. You do remember Shader, Rizel, Genai and Viede, don't you?"

"Of course I do, what do you take me for?" Chrno replied, sarcastically. They had fought so many battles beside him in the past... it was kind of difficult to forget about them. "So what did you do? You created a rebel group inside Pandemonium's core and they joined your cause? I'm impressed."

"Yeah, I know you would. But that's not all... I have a plan to overthrow Pandemonium and get control of it, but I need your help to do so." Aion's voice lowered and his eyes got that intense look they usually had whenever he thought about his dream. "I need you, my brother. With the power you possess, sizing control of Pandemonium will be an easy thing to do, once I've gathered the 7 Apostles and have them in my grasp. I already have one of them... locating the other 6 is only a matter of time."

It was Chrno's turn to laugh, though his laughter had a bitter edge to it. "Yes, I figured you were the one who kidnapped the young Apostle boy a few days ago, no other demon besides you and me would have been so reckless." He forced himself not to think of Rosette, and spoke in a very serious tone. "However... I'm afraid I won't be able to help you in my current state. As you already know, I have been sealed... only not one, but three times. The first 2 seals were removed, but the third one, the one that was put on me that time has not been broken yet. It's a holy seal, and it's very powerful. It doesn't allow me to use the powers of the Astral Line... I was only able to regain my true form because I made a contract with a human."

"I see. So they sealed you three times, huh? Those humans must really have been very afraid of you, Chrno. Well, I can't really blame them... after what you did to their precious Holy Maiden is no wonder they were so pissed off." Aion said mockingly.

_What I did to her? What about what she did to me? _Chrno thought, trying to appear indifferent, and forcing himself to keep his emotions hidden deep within him. He didn't want anybody, least of all his brother, to know about the humiliation he had suffered at her hands, when she betrayed him in the worst way possible... "What happened to her, anyway?" He asked, in a jovial tone that masked his thoughts.

"You don't know the details?" Said Aion. "Oh, then you're going to love hearing this... she died the moment you were sealed. Apparently she used up all her Astral energy, in other words her own life, when she put the seal on you, can you believe it?"

Chrno forced himself to smile, though he felt something cold inside. So she had been willing to give up on her life, if that meant causing him as much damage as possible... how can he had been so deceived by her apparent friendliness towards him? He had been careless... stupidly careless. "Well, that serves her right... however the fact remains that I need to find a way to break that seal." He said, wanting to change the topic. He didn't feel like talking about the Holy Maiden for the moment. That only gave him bad memories that he preferred to keep for himself...

Aion smiled, not noticing his brother's discomfort. "Those humans risked everything they had to put a holy seal on you. That was certainly smart of them... no demon could ever be able to break a holy seal, right? Too bad they didn't think about themselves."

"What do you mean?"

"As you know, a holy seal can be broken by a person with the ability to use the power of the Astral Line... an Apostle, for example. The seal you have is too strong for just one of them, but if we combine the power of the seven, then the seal can be broken." His voice lowered. "Help me gather the 7 Apostles, Chrno. Once we have them, we can break your seal and you will be free once again... free to return to being the killer that both humans and demons feared." Aion extended his hand towards him, fixing his gaze in Chrno's red eyes, which stared unblinkingly at him. "Join me brother. If we work together once more, then there's nothing we cannot do."

Chrno's face remained impassible for a moment, closing his eyes while memories he preferred to forget came to his mind. A killer... was that what everybody thought he was? _A killer..._ Was that the only thing he was good at?

After a few moments of indecision he took his brother's hand and shook it in a very firm grip. "You are right." He said. "Pandemonium will be ours. I only hope you know what you're doing."

"Oh please." Aion said with equal confidence. "When have I been wrong?"

"Never. Just don't get too sure of yourself."

"I'll try not to." Aion said, patting his brother on the back. "You look fine, Chrno. I almost feel sorry for the human you made a contract with. What did you promise? Eternal life, perhaps? I swear, those humans let themselves be fooled way too easily."

"Well, you know how they are." Chrno said, though for some reason, he found that he didn't really want to tell Aion about Rosette. He would only make fun of her, and he didn't think he'd found any humor in that. "So, what do I do now? I can't go back to Pandemonium, as you well know."

"Oh no, of course not... listen Chrno, we have a hideout called 'Eden' which we built to hide ourselves. It is our best-kept secret... we will keep the Apostles there once we find them."

"So what about the Apostle you kidnapped some days ago? Do you keep him there as well?" Chrno asked curiously. Perhaps he could take Rosette with him to that place... she would be happy upon seeing her brother again, and he would keep a watch on her... he would make sure that nothing happened to his precious contractor, and he could be with her all the time. It was funny, he was starting to look forward to her visits, and actually missed her when she couldn't go to his place...

Aion sighed upon hearing his question. "Unfortunately, no. A pursuer from Pandemonium discovered me, and I had no choice but to take the boy to Pandemonium's core to avoid suspicion. He is being kept there, and is heavily guarded.... Everybody has plans for the boy... and that's why I need your cooperation."

To Be Continued...

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After a long break, I finally finished this chapter… I can't believe I took so long to finish it, sorry for the long wait! Next chapter will come out sooner I promise... how soon depends on the number of reviews I get for this. The more reviews the more motivated I am to continue and the faster the next chapter comes. So please keep 'em coming! Please? beg

Hehehe, I guess my self-esteem is really low... anyway, I want to give an enormous THANK YOU to all the people that sent me their comments. You know who you are! river of tears

BTW, for those people that have commented on Chrno's "evil" personality, or his OOC... well, all I can say is that his past in this story is different from his past in the manga. His motivations, background and present situation are entirely different, that's why his personality is different as a result. You will see what I mean in the following chapters... hopefully soon.

So yeah, this story is loosely based in the manga. A "what if" of sorts... okay, I'm rambling... Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and you have a very prosperous New Year!


	5. Walking Through the Night

**Tears of innocence**

---Chapter 5: Walking Through the Night

Rosette continued to look outside of the window of the room where she was with Minister Remington without saying anything to the young priest, who stood behind her. She was still thinking of Chrno. She had wanted to stay with him, instead of going back home to confront the minister... the emotional wound she received upon hearing of her dear brother's disappearance was still painfully fresh.

Tears were forming once again in her eyes, as she continued to look at the clear night sky. There seemed to be some small figures obscuring the stars... how strange. She didn't pay them any attention, however, as her thoughts were currently focused on Joshua. Where could he be? What could he be doing? Was he alright?

"So, what do you say, Rosette?" Remington's kind, yet annoying tone, interrupted her thoughts, though she still didn't look at him. "I understand that this is a bit sudden... but it's now very important to evacuate the orphanage before something happens. This area is not safe for the moment."

Rosette turned around immediately to look at him with surprise, all her previous thoughts forgotten for the moment. "Evacuate?! Why?" The idea, to her, was preposterous. They were not in any danger. Why would they be?

"Like I told you, the Order discovered that the demon sealed here broke free a few weeks ago. We discovered this very recently... I came as soon as I could upon hearing the news. The Order has dispatched several Militia to this area, under my charge. The orphanage will be under our custody now... I was discussing that with Mrs. Jean before you came here."

"What?! But... but... where would we go?!" Rosette asked, still not fully believing her ears. The orphanage, evacuated... that had to be a joke! Chrno would never attack them, though of course, she couldn't say this to the minister. She was determined to keep her friendship with him a secret from everybody that would want to harm him. But still, this was too much for her to bear. First her brother disappearing, and now this...

"You will be sent tomorrow morning to the New York City headquarters for a few days, until we can secure the area. After that, you can all come back. It's possible that what happened is only a false rumor... we only discovered this a few days ago. I already talked with Mrs. Jean, and she has agreed. This is all for your safety... we don't know exactly how dangerous this place is, so it's better to leave the area as soon as possible."

Rosette was speechless for a few moments. The next morning... that was too sudden! She knew she had to tell Remington the truth about Chrno, or the entire orphanage would be sent to a far place, yet she couldn't give him away... She lowered her gaze, and wondered what to do, as a hundred thoughts ran inside her mind. She should speak to Chrno first... but when? They would be forced to leave in a few hours, and it was now very late for her to run to his place, in the middle of the night...

She got up and faced the minister, somewhat defiantly, feeling confused and angry at the sudden turn of events. "Even if that demon awoke, I don't think it's a good reason for us to move away from our home! Why would he attack us? Anyway, you still haven't told me why you want to take me to that convent!" She finished, crossing her arms.

Minister Remington sighed, but smiled at the girl. She was a stubborn one... but definitely not stupid. "Those are very good questions." He admitted. "That's why I needed to talk to you in private. There are many things I need to tell you about."

Rosette frowned, but didn't say anything, so Remington continued. "It's important to move all of you because demons from Pandemonium could come here once they find out that the demonmight bealive. He isn't very popular... he has a lot of enemies, even among his own kin."

She paled a bit at that, but said nothing and just let him continue, still not fully believing everything he said.

"As for your second question... like I told you before, I was thinking of taking you to the Order along with Joshua, but I didn't have my superior's permission at the time. You are a very brave girl, and I think you could be trained as an exorcist. We have many novices that are about your age... I think you would fit with them. There are a lot of recruitment tests, but my superiors considered that being the sister of an Apostle was enough recommendation for you to join, specially since you'd be under my tutelage."

Rosette stared at him with unbelief. She knew the Order 'recruited' new members since they were very young, but it somehow never occurred to her that she would be considered to join it simply for being an Apostle's sister. Minister Remington was a lot more influential that what she thought at first. Still... the idea of leaving the orphanage, and Chrno behind, was unthinkable.

"That demon that was sealed here... what was his name? What did he do, to deserve something like that?" She asked at last, in a very low voice. That was a question she couldn't ask Chrno, for fear of annoying or hurting him, yet she was curious to know. There were still so many things she didn't know about him. She never really cared about his past, but now she knew she had to know.

Remington sighed. "It's a long story... but you must have heard about him. The demon's name is Chrno, nicknamed 'The Sinner' for killing 100 of his own allies during the war." He made a pause. "He is also the one that killed the Holy Maiden, Mary Magdalene."

Rosette was almost in shock after hearing that revelation, as many thoughts rushed inside her head. That couldn't be... the minister was lying... yet what he said made sense, as she remembered the inscription engraved at the marble block that marked Chrno's burial place. 'Holy Maiden Magdalene, pray for us' it said. She had wondered about it the first time she saw it, but she had quickly forgotten about it in the face of everything that happened afterwards. But now...

She sat down and lowered her head so that Remington couldn't see her expression. Chrno... his name had sounded vaguely familiar to her the first time he said it, but she never really thought that it could be important. There had been little time for that... he had been seriously ill, and she had to do something to save him, regardless of who he was. Several long-forgotten memories of things she had read about rushed back to her in one single instant. Chrno the Sinner. The Ignoble One... how could she ever forget about it?

"Why... why did he kill the Holy Maiden? How do you know he did it?" She asked somewhat defensively. None of the stories she had heard about him ever say anything about his motives, just a few vague facts. Chrno, a killer... she shook her head lightly. No matter what all the stories and history books said, that just couldn't be right. And even if it **_was_** true, there had to be a reason for it. He was different from other demons, she was sure of it. He was her best friend... and she would not doubt him until she heard the truth.

Remington's gaze became somewhat distant, and he was about to speak, in reply to her question, when the door opened suddenly. Mrs. Jean stood on the doorway, with a look of fear on her normally serene face. "Minister!!" She shouted, as some kids stood behind her, looking equally afraid and almost about to cry. "A horde of demons are coming this way!!"

Remington's face became suddenly as cold as ice, as he ran towards the nearest window. Indeed... there were several large figures flying towards the house, getting nearer and nearer, their eyes glowing red...

"Everybody hide in the basement. I will try to keep them at bay." He said, his voice cold and commanding. Damn it, this was too soon... they had underestimated their enemies. And he was alone... the Militia under his charge wouldn't be there until the morning. "HURRY!" He shouted, turning his head to look at Mrs. Jean before taking out his sword and walking towards the door of the building, his face hard and set. He would fight to the death... it wouldn't be an easy battle, but he would at least try to hold them back, and pray that the rest of the Militia arrived soon... they should be aware of the danger by now...

Mrs. Jean and the kids started running towards the basement, as she shouted for everyone to hide there. Rosette, however, didn't follow her advice. Chrno... she had to go to Chrno's side… he could save them, she was sure of it. She had to go to his place as soon as possible!

"ROSETTE!" Mrs. Jean shouted from the entrance to the basement, just as one of the windows was shattered by one of the demons, who smiled at the sight ofhis prey... the young blonde girl, who froze for a few moments at the sight of him.

Far away from there, in the middle of the forest, Chrno and Aion continued to speak, unaware of the nearbydanger.

"Why do you need my cooperation?" Chrno asked Aion, frowning. "If the Apostle boy is kept in Pandemonium's core, like you just said, then you know that there is nothing I can do about it."

Aion smiled. "Of course not... that would be suicide. No, what I'm asking you is to keep a watch on the boy's only sister... Rosette Christopher, I think that's what her name is..."

Chrno's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before his expression got slightly hostile. "What do you want from her? She is a normal human girl, she doesn't have any of her brother's powers."

"How do you know that? Have you met her?" Aion asked, a little surprised.

Chrno couldn't help but to smile at this. "Rather obvious question, my brother. It was the Apostle named Joshua and his sister the ones who woke me up. Should have figured that sooner... only an Apostle would have been able to break the seals on this place." He said, a bit sarcastically. "But tell me, why do you need the girl? I don't see why she would be of any use to you." No matter what Aion said, the girl was his... and he didn't want to share her.

Aion sighed. "It's a long story… basically, Pandemonium wants her so they can manipulate the young Apostle. The boy has been rather unstable, and constantly asks for her... the energies of Pandemonium's core were a bit too much for him, and they need her to calm him down so he can 'cooperate' with their cause... and ours."

Chrno frowned. Somehow, he didn't like hearing about this... though it really didn't came as a surprise. Pandemonium had rather harsh ways to exert control over anybody who dared to oppose the demonic society, and an Apostle would be no exception to the rule. He almost felt sorry for the boy. If Rosette were to hear about this...

"Very well." He said, clenching his fist. "I will protect the girl from falling into Pandemonium's hands to the best of my ability." Now, that wasn't something difficult to do, as few in Pandemonium dared to go against him. Protecting his contractor...that was the closest thing to a fun job as he could think of. "But surely you didn't come all the way here just to tell me that, did you?" He knew his brother too well...

"No, I certainly did not... I actually came to request your services as my 'sword'." He smiled. "You are strong, Chrno, and there are several Pursuers that have been chasing me lately that I want you to eradicate." He made a pause, his face hardening. "I'm no longer trusted in Pandemonium. Though nobody has any proof of my plans for rebellion, there are still some old enemies of ours that want to see me dead. They are constantly following me, to make sure that I don't do anything suspicious. If you take care of them then I would be free to do as I please, until the right moment comes." He smiled. "Nobody can accuse me of killing them, though, of course I will keep the fact that you're alive as a top secret."

Chrno shook his head lightly, smiling despite himself. "Very well... I will trust you with that."

"Nobody even knows that I came here. Feel free to destroy those Pursuers as you see fit. After all, killing is your specialty... and from what I heard earlier today, there are a bunch of demons that have been sent here to look for you. They will be headed here after they kill some Militia from the famous Magdalan Order that were apparently sent to look for the Apostle's sister. They shouldn't be too far away... though they will probably get the Apostle's sister first."

Chrno froze. Pursuers coming this way, to look for him, and to get Rosette? He raised his head, all his senses alert, and indeed, he could feel a faint hostile demonic presence not too far away. Shit!!!

He didn't wait a single moment more, as he shot forward to the air and flew straight towards the orphanage, not even glancing back at Aion. Damn it... damn it!! NOBODY would get a hold of his contractor... especially not those bastards!

Remington fell to the floor, bleeding profusely. He had managed to kill 2 of the demons, but he had been injured, and there were still several other tall figures closing in around the building. He grasped his sword, clenching his teeth in pain. What was taking the Militia so long to come there? At this rate, all the children in the orphanage, except for Rosette, would be dead along with him. There were too many enemies for just one man alone... especially one that was injured.

Another demon crashed through one of the walls, and came inside the place, his red eyes fixed on him, as it raised his large claws. This would be difficult... Rosette had been captured already, and she continued toscream, trying hard to escape from her captor...

"ROSETTE!" Chrno's deep voice was heard suddenly, as he descended from the air with unusual speed, and slammed against the Pursuer, tearing his head off in a single movement of his claws. Burning rage flowed through his veins... rage, and an intense desire for revenge.

Rosette fell to the floor, blood from the Pursuer pooling around her.

Remington tried to stand, and shouted at Rosette to hide, but she ignored him completely, as she stood frozen, watching the violent scene unfolding in front of her eyes. Chrno, tearing all the Pursuers apart with a twisted smile on his face...

Everything fell silent in a matter of minutes, as Chrno took easy care of each of the demons that had attacked, even the ones that were trying to escape. He couldn't leave any of them alive... if he did, then Pandemonium would find out that he was still alive, and that didn't suit his plans.

He landed on the ground, his claws dripping blood, as he turned around, looking for Rosette. Where was she?

Their eyes met.

Rosette was standing in the doorway of the nearly demolished building, her face pale and scared, as she looked at the dead bodies of the demons that were scattered everywhere, which soon started to turn into mist, as well as the blood splattered on her dress.

Chrno frowned, and turned away. He could tell what her reaction would be... she would be scared of him, and would probably never want to face him again. That really didn't bother him, as long as she... as long as she was…

"Chrno!" Rosette yelled suddenly, running towards him, stopping a short distance away, her eyes filled with worry. "Chrno, are you alright?" She asked, in a trembling voice, looking up to see his face. "I thought I would never see you again..."

He turned to look down at her, his face an odd mixture of surprise, unbelief and something else... why wasn't she scared of him, even after everything she saw? Did she still consider him to be harmless?

"I am fine." He said at last. "Don't worry about me. As long as you're..." He trailed off, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Remington, who was walking out of the destroyed building with a hostile expression, clearly injured, but still willing to fight, as he clenched his sword.

"Get away from him, Rosette." He said, his voice cold, recognizing the figure of the violet-haired demon in front of him. Chrno. The Sinner...

To Be Continued

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Well, after a long while, Chapter 5 is finally done... Chapter 6 is already in the works, but please, keep your reviews coming! Feedback is always appreciated!!

Love,

Vero-chan


	6. This Present Darkness

**Tears of innocence**

Chapter 6: This present darkness

Rosette turned to look at Remington from where she stood next to Chrno. "He's not evil, Minister!" She exclaimed upon seeing the fierce expression on his face. "He helped us… he's my friend!" She was about to walk towards him, when she felt a big, clawed hand on her shoulder. She turned upwards to look at Chrno, who had his golden eyes fixed on Remington.

"That man is right. Stay back." He growled, placing himself between her and the priest. He had no reserves about ripping the minister apart, but he didn't want to do it in front of Rosette... unless he really had to. "I admire your will to fight, however, you have no chance against me, especially not in your current state. But if you still want to confront me, go on... I will just say one thing: the girl stays with me." He told the young man standing before him. His eyes left no doubt that he was being serious.

Remington stared at the demon's golden eyes for a while, his gaze cold and calculating while he gripped his sword. It was not a common sword... it was one of the Magdalan Order's finest weapons, designed specifically for him to use in close hand-to-hand combat. "I know who you are... Chrno the Sinner, the Holy Maiden's killer." He said, not relaxing his stance. "Let Rosette go... she's only a child, she has nothing to do with this!"

Cold anger seemed to sweep inside Chrno, but he remained calm. Though he wasn't nearly as strong as he was before he had been sealed, he knew that no human could ever hope to defeat him in hand-to-hand combat... not even a Militia from the Magdalan Order, his worst enemies after Pandemonium itself. "The Holy Maiden's killer? Don't joke with me... I will suggest you tell the girl the truth, unless you want me to tell her what really happened, and turn her away from you forever. I will only tell you this: you cannot separate her from me, nor me from her, no matter what you do."

"What have you done to her?" Remington asked through gritted teeth.

"I have done nothing... but you would not believe me if I told you, would you? Why don't you ask her yourself?" Chrno turned to look at Rosette briefly, before turning to look at the minister again, not relaxing his stance. "It's okay, Rosette." He said, in a much softer tone, though his eyes were still fixed on the man. "You can tell him the truth, I promise I won't get angry."

Rosette walked from behind Chrno, standing next to him. "Minister..." She began to speak, in a much softer tone than the one she used with Remington previously. Most of the anger she felt towards the priest had gone after seeing him fight so hard to defend the children against the demons that attacked the orphanage, but she was still wary of him, afraid of what his reaction would be after he heard what she had to say. "Chrno and I... made a contract." She murmured, as she could see the sudden change in his expression upon hearing this. "But it's not his fault!" She added quickly, not liking the look in his eyes. "He was sick, and I agreed to help him!"

There was a moment of silence. "You're even worse than I imagined." Remington said to Chrno after a long pause, his voice nearly shaking with anger. "You manipulated an innocent girl to do as you wanted, didn't you, Sinner? Tell me, what lies did you tell her!" He shouted.

Chrno's voice was calm, though he longed to silence the man. Damn it. If Rosette wasn't present, that fool would have stopped talking a long time ago. "Selfishly ignorant people are all the same." He said, not moving at all from where he stood next to Rosette. "You think that everybody lies just because that is what you do. I did not tell her any lies. She knew what a contract was before she agreed to my offer."

"Rosette." Remington continued, not paying any attention to the demon's words. "Do you know exactly what is going to happen to you? This monster is taking a part of your life to sustain himself. If this goes on, you will not live more than a few years!"

"I know that, Minister..." Said Rosette, patiently. "He told me everything about it... and I accepted. And he's not a monster, he's my friend!" She exclaimed stubbornly, somewhat annoyed, yet worried at what could happen if the minister refused to listen to her. She didn't want Chrno and him to fight...

"Your _friend_? Demons don't make 'friends' with humans." Remington's voice was sarcastic, though calm. Losing his head in anger would not help Rosette out of her current situation. He needed to think clearly when dealing with a demon, specially one as strong as Chrno. "Tell me, demon." He said calmly. "What did you want from her? Nobody makes a contract for free. What did you offer her in return for using her life?"

Chrno was getting really pissed off... "Nothing. I just promised to help her whenever she needed me." He growled, before he gave a step forward, once more placing himself between her and the man. He really didn't want Rosette to see him killing a human, but he would do it anyway if the minister refused to listen to him.

Remington, however, lowered his sword, though he didn't relax his stance and his eyes remained fixed on Chrno, in case he decided to attack. "Rosette." He said, in a soft tone. "Is what he said true? Did you make a contract with a demon knowing what would happen to you?"

"Yes, Minister. Chrno didn't offer me anything... I made the contract just because I wanted to help him." She said, with surprising confidence.

Chrno felt a light twinge of something similar to remorse upon hearing this, but he quickly pushed it aside. He couldn't let his feelings get in the way... he needed to deal with the priest right here and now. "Listen priest. You know as well as I do that you can't win against me, even if you were not injured. So put your sword away, or I'll take the girl away with me."

Remington frowned, but then sighed. The demon was right... he couldn't win against him. Chrno was a particularly powerful enemy, and he needed to deal with him very carefully... but not with weapons. "Very well." He said at last. He hated to make any kind of deals with a demon, but if what Rosette said was true, and she had a contract with Chrno, then there wasn't much that he could do. If she thought Chrno was her 'friend', fighting against the demon would only make her distrust the Order, perhaps the only means she had to save herself from suffering a fate similar to the Holy Maiden. Remington sheathed his sword and raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Whatever your reasons are for making a contract with Rosette, I'll respect them." He began. "But I have a question to make. What are you two going to do by yourselves? Where are you going to live? Rosette." He said to the young girl, who looked at him defiantly. "What are you going to eat? Where will you sleep? You need food and clothes, as well as a place to live. And that is not all of it... one of the reasons I wanted you to come to live at the Order was so that you could be protected, as well as being informed of any news regarding Joshua. There are several demons that will go after you just for being the sister of an Apostle. I don't doubt Chrno's ability for defending you against them, but please remember that there are several people that are worried about you as well."

Rosette lowered her head, listening to this with a frown. She knew that what the minister said was true... but something inside her refused to accept it. The truth is, she didn't want to go to the Magdalan Order, and she knew she couldn't stay in the orphanage. It had been destroyed, partially because of her, and it would take some time to rebuild. Even if she stayed, the kids around her would be in constant danger of being attacked... she couldn't allow that... and she didn't want to be separated from Chrno either.

Chrno listened to the minister's words with barely repressed hostility, even though his senses told him that the man did not pose a threat for him. Rule number one when dealing with an adversary: never underestimate your enemy, even if it was a human. He would never make that mistake again...

The rest of the kids of the orphanage, that had been hidden in the basement during the entire ordeal, chose that moment to come outside the building, and froze in fear at the sight of Chrno. Some of them, the younger ones, started crying then, while Mrs. Jean looked positively terrified.

Rosette took a step backwards, and then looked up at Chrno, pleading with her eyes to take her away from there...

He nodded and looked evenly at the man, before turning around and taking Rosette in his arms, in a sudden swift movement. And before Remington could say anything more, they were both in the air, flying swiftly towards the forest where his hiding place was...

Chrno put Rosette on the ground very carefully, looking around him. His senses told him that Aion was nearby, but he didn't want her to meet his brother yet. They still had a lot to talk about... "Stay here, Rosette." He said to the young girl. "I will be back soon. Don't worry, you'll be safe in here." He said in an almost warm tone, to the worried looking girl.

Rosette nodded, looking at him with open trust. The truth was, she didn't like to stay alone in that place at night, specially after being attacked by demons, but she had to give in... She was sure that whatever happened, he would be there for her. "Ah... yes... It's okay, I'll be fine." She said reassuringly.

He gave her a very slight smile and then shot through the air, flying towards the place where his brother was...

Aion was standing over a tall cliff that overlooked a big part of the forest. He didn't turn to look at his brother as he flew over the place, until he landed softly behind him. "Congratulations brother." Aion said then, smiling and patting his brother's back. "Nice work you did with those Pursuers there... none of them had a chance against you. I'm impressed."

"Yeah, I knew you would." Chrno said in the same half-joking tone, though he soon became serious. "Listen, I still have some questions to ask you. Regarding this 'refuge' of yours, Eden... is it possible for me to take my contractor there?"

Aion sighed. "Unfortunately, no. Eden is no place for humans... the Astral energy contained in there is too much for a normal person to handle. Only Apostles can survive in there, just like in Pandemonium."

Chrno nodded, understanding. He had been expecting that answer, but had hoped for things to be different... "I see. Then I guess I won't be able to go live there either. It's not convenient for me to leave my contractor behind."

"No, I guess not... but I think it's better that you actually stay in here. We don't know when we will be discovered, and it's better for us to have an ally that we can rely on if everything else fails. Like I told you, there are several individuals in Pandemonium that are trying to destroy me. But we are really close to fulfill our goal... if you help me to destroy them and get a hold of the remaining Apostles, then we'll be soon free." He made a pause. "And while you're at it, you can also keep a watch on our human enemies as well… I'm referring, of course, to our friends from the Magdalan Order."

A faint smile crossed Chrno's smile at the mention of the Order, though he remained calm. "Ah yes, I was expecting you to mention them sometime. So tell me, what do you want me to do with them? As long as I don't have to befriend them, anything goes." He half-joked.

"Ah no, you don't have to go THAT far... though that would be perfect." Aion smiled upon seeing his brother's face. "Let me explain... basically, I need a spy. Someone that keeps a close watch on the humans so that we know what they're planning. While I don't really consider them a real menace, they still have a considerable force and it's very important to our cause not to underestimate them... Pandemonium made that mistake 200 years ago, and look at the consequences."

Chrno nodded, deep in thought. His brother was right... they should not underestimate the humans again. It was a lesson he had to learn the hard way. "So, is that all you need me to do? Killing Pursuers, keeping a watch on the Order's movements, finding the Apostles and protect a human child? I should be offended." He smiled. "It's too easy a job for me to refuse."

"Fine. Just don't get too sure of yourself." This time it was Aion the one to said it. It had been a common phrase among the twins since a long time ago. "Very well... it's a deal then." He looked at the sky once more. "I should be on my way back to Pandemonium, before the Elders notice my absence. Rizel managed to cover my absence by telling one of her most convincing lies, but I better not put her abilities to the test." He opened his wings and turned to leave. "I will be contacting you soon... until then, try to stay out of trouble."

"I will if I can." Said Chrno, crossing his arms and looking confident.

"Good. Oh and by the way... Shader sends you her greetings. She always had a big crush on you, you know." Aion smiled mischievously.

"Not my type." Said Chrno, smiling. "But say hello from me anyway. She was a good friend."

"Shall do that." Aion said, and with that, he left, disappearing in the night's sky in a matter of minutes.

Chrno lost no time after that to go back to Rosette's side, and landed on the ground next to the entrance to the underground chamber, his refuge, only a short while later. He walked towards the room inside, softly illuminated by several candles that Rosette had brought with during one of her first visits, along with some pillows and blankets for him. She had said that it wasn't fair that he was forced to sleep in such a cold and hard place when she had a warm bed all for herself, though he had told her several times that he didn't mind... she worried too much about him in his opinion.

Rosette raised her head upon seeing him, and quickly stood up from the stone bed where she was sitting on, smiling brightly. "Chrno!" She exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're back... are you alright? Are there other demons outside still?" She asked worriedly.

"No, none at all, we're safe now." He said reassuringly, sitting down on the other side of the stone bed, to put some distance between her and him. He usually avoided all sorts of physical contact with his contractor, except when he took her home in his arms. It was better that way... getting too close to her was pointless, since she would be dying in a few years anyway... and all thanks to him. "So..." He asked, wanting to break the ice, noting that she was still a bit nervous after what happened at the orphanage. "Are alright? You weren't harmed, were you?"

Rosette nodded, feeling grateful for his concern. She then started making small talk for a few minutes, telling him how the minister had fought to save her, and how he had arrived just as they were about to lose the battle, until they both fell silent. The unspoken question, that none of them wanted to ask, yet it was there in their minds all the same was... what to do now? Even if they didn't want to admit it, they couldn't stay in that place by themselves... Rosette was a human, and she needed to eat, sleep and be taken care of... and Chrno could not provide any of those things to her. He barely knew anything of what human children needed, or what they ate, other than cookies...

"I think it's better for you to go back home now." Chrno said at last, after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

Rosette lifted up her head to stare at him. "Go back? But... but... where? The orphanage is destroyed, and everybody is probably mad at me for going away with you... and also... those demons were looking for me, right?" She said, lowering her head. Chrno was about to say something, but Rosette continued speaking, staring at the ceiling. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. They will be fine if I'm gone. And I don't want to go to the Order, I'd MUCH rather stay with you. I'm sure we will do fine in our own." Her voice tried to be cheerful, but it had a hint of sadness in it that was not missed on Chrno.

"Listen, kid." He said, frowning while he stared at her. "I don't know what that man told you before I arrived, but I know demons better than he does, as I am one of them. Those Pursuers that attacked your home would have done it even if you weren't there... the presence of someone from the Magdalan Order is more than enough reason for any of them to attack. So don't feel guilty."

Rosette tuned to look at him, with a mixture of surprise and gratefulness. Chrno was normally a silent person... usually it was her the one who talked, and he just asked her questions and listened to her, unless he had something important to say... she resisted the urge to hug him, however, as she knew that he didn't like it, but couldn't help but to smile at him. "Thank you." She said sincerely. "I guess you're right... but... umm..."

"What is it? Speak up." Chrno said, frowning. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. Did that priest tell you something bad about me?"

"No, it isn't that!" Rosette exclaimed, but lowered her head again, a bit embarrassed. "Well, he did say something about you, but I didn't believe him anyway. What I want to say is that.. umm..." _Gah, why was this so difficult to say?_ She thought. "Well... I was... you know..."

"Oh, just say it. You were scared of me, weren't you?" Chrno said, irritated.

"No, I didn't!" Rosette's voice was a bit indignant. "Ah... sorry." She apologized. "But I was actually... very happy to see you." She said at last. She turned from him immediately, blushing. "Well... I was very scared back then.. but when I heard you saying my name, I wasn't scared anymore." She smiled at him once more. "You know, that was the first time that you said my name!"

Chrno looked puzzled, and a little uncomfortable, not knowing what to say. "Ah well... really?" He asked at last.

"Yeah!" Rosette replied. "You always call me 'kid' or 'you'... well, it's not important... but I was happy anyway."

Chrno looked away. She was right... somehow, he had never noticed that before... but now that she mentioned it, it was true. "Alright. I will call you Rosette from now on if you want." He sighed. He really didn't mind calling her by her first name, but he had wanted to put some distance between the two of them. _Ah well, it doesn't matter anyway._ He thought "Well, in any case, you should be going back. You can't sleep in here."

"But why not?" Rosette said, hugging her knees. "If I go back... the minister will try to take me to the Magdalan Order, and then we will get separated, and... well, I don't want to go."

Chrno looked at her for a moment, before he looked up at the ceiling. "Even if the minister takes you away, I will find you. We have a contract after all. I can find you no matter where you are, and they can't do anything about it. They can't break the contract, and they can't harm me either, especially not if they know that you are my contractor."

She turned to look at him, blushing once more upon hearing his words. "Really?" She asked hopefully, feeling her heart suddenly very light.

"I don't lie." Chrno said simply. "You should know that already."

"Then... do you think it would be possible for us to go there together? " She asked at last, after a long pause. "The minister is not that bad as I thought... and he is very important... if I can convince him to let me join the Order and take you with me, then maybe... maybe we could go there and look for Joshua." She said in a low voice, a bit afraid of what his reaction would be. Would he laugh at her for suggesting something so ridiculous?

Chrno however, did not laugh, and simply stared back at her, thoughtfully. What she said made sense... it was something very difficult, but if the Order really wanted Rosette to come with them, and he agreed to have his powers sealed, at least until the right moment came... then perhaps he could sneak inside the organization and look for clues regarding the Apostles, as well as keeping a close watch on his enemies, the way Aion asked him to.

No... the idea definitely wasn't bad.

He smiled for himself. Now all he had to do, was to convince the minister... and he knew exactly how to do just that...

To Be Continued...

Whew! I can't BELIEVE how lazy I've been the entire month! Once again, sorry for taking so long to finish this chapter… it was actually almost finished since last week, but I've been so darn busy ALL this week, that I really couldn't post it earlier.

ANYway...

I really want to give a big THANK YOU to all my kind reviewers. Guys, you are the reason why I keep writing despite my laziness, as well as the reason I pressure myself into finish it as soon as I can despite all my time-consuming activities... so, thank you very much! Please keep those reviews coming, and don't be shy to say "Please write more!". That really puts the right amount of pressure on my back, I can tell you that! (Just don't be rude. You will only make me annoyed, and it will take me TWICE as long to finish.)

I also want to thank my 'regular' reviewers, especially Nightelfcrawler, Zilleniose, Pepperoonie (I love your reviews, they really help), YumeTakato, etc. (too lazy to write all the names) Love you all!

Next chapter is halfway done... but it's the second part what takes me longer to write, oddly. So please keep your reviews coming!

Sincerely,

Vero-chan


	7. A Dark Journey

**Tears of innocence**

Chapter 7: A Dark Journey

"Very well." Chrno said after a pause. "If you want to join the Order, then I agree... just as long as we can go together." He smiled. "They probably won't like to have me there, but I don't care. Like I said, they can't separate us." A demon joining the Order... oh that would be great. Especially if that demon was none other than himself, the so-called 'Holy Maiden's killer'. It would serve them just fine...

Rosette's face brightened at his words, nodding eagerly. "Yes!" She exclaimed. "Even if they could separate us, I would quit the order and look for you. You're my best friend in the entire world!"

Chrno smiled at this, almost despite himself. Her best friend, she said... but then again, what was so wrong about pretending to be her friend? Whether he liked it or not, he had a debt with her... the very least he could do was to make his contractor as happy as he could during the course of her short life. His own plans could wait for later... at least until the right time came.

"Well then, let's go back." He said, standing up. "Unless you prefer to stay in here?" He asked cautiously. Rosette always seemed disappointed every time she had to go back to her home, so he decided that he might as well let her spent the night in there, as uncomfortable as it was. "I could take you there in the morning if you want. The orphanage's building is partially ruined anyway, so it won't be much better than this chamber."

"Really!" Rosette asked, almost not believing her ears. "Can I really stay here with you?" She had no desire of going back to the orphanage for now... she didn't want to face anybody at the moment. The faces of the minister, Mrs. Jean and each of the kids as they stared at her and Chrno with frightened expressions were still very clear inside her mind, and she didn't feel prepared to face them just yet. "If you don't mind too much... I would love to. I won't make any noise, I promise!"

Chrno just nodded, shrugging. "I don't mind. But this place it's a little cold for a human, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Oh no, it's okay, I'm not cold anyway." Said Rosette, rather excitedly. A sort of slumber party in the woods with her best friend... nothing could really be better for her at the moment, except finding Joshua… she quickly pushed that thought away, however. She couldn't allow herself to feel sad... there was really nothing she could do about him, at least for now...

She then took an old blanket and a pillow that she had brought for the orphanage and sat on the floor, next to the stone bed where Chrno had laid asleep for 2 centuries. The floor was very cold and uncomfortable, but she tried to take the best position, and smiled up at him. She was really tired and emotionally exhausted, but she was not sleepy at all... she didn't think she could sleep for even five minutes, no matter how much she wanted to. The events from the last hours were still painfully fresh inside her mind, and it would take a lot of time to put them behind her.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence then, until Rosette finally spoke. "So, umm..." She began hesitantly. "Did you really meet the Holy Maiden?" She asked at last, in a very soft voice, looking down. She wasn't really sure why she had even asked something like that. It was too personal, and Chrno disliked those kind of questions. But she just couldn't stop thinking about the minister's words about Chrno, and it made her very curious, to say the list.

Chrno, however, caught the hidden meaning behind her words immediately. "Just ask what you really want to ask." He said in a low voice. "If you're wondering whether or not I'm the Holy Maiden's killer, like that priest said, just say it out loud." His voice was carefully controlled, but there was a very clear twinge of resentment on it that was not missed by Rosette.

"Ah no, that was not what I wanted to ask!" Exclaimed Rosette, though she lowered her voice immediately. "Well, actually... I really wanted to ask you about it, but I didn't want you to get angry. I don't believe anything the minister says... I already know that you never tell any lies." She took a deep breath, gathering all her courage to ask him what she really wanted to know. "Umm... did the Holy Maiden… do something… bad… to you?" She said, very slowly, her eyes on the floor.

Chrno sighed and sat down next to her, yet still not in close contact, as he leaned back against the base of the stone bed to stare at the ceiling on top of him. His eyes had a far away look that Rosette had never seen before, though she didn't say anything about it, and just waited patiently for him to speak. It wasn't until a whole minute later that Chrno finally spoke, in reply to her question.

"Yes..." He began. "I met the Holy Maiden. It's a long story, but I'll only tell you this: I was not the one who betrayed her. It was her the one that betrayed me and put the seal on me when I... well, it doesn't matter anymore." He made a short pause. "I know that you've probably heard her story several times before... the history book you gave to me mentioned her a couple of times, praising her for being the reason you humans won the Great Battle. But I don't care about that. None of them knew her the way I did." He fell silent at that, gazing sideways at Rosette, waiting for her reaction.

She was silent for a moment, pondering on his words. "I see... well, actually, I don't really know much about her... none of the history books actually say what she was like... but you know, I don't really care about that either. I just won't believe anything those books say anymore." She tried to smile at him, but instead made a face as she shifted on her place once more. The stone floor sure was hard...

Chrno did not miss on any of her reactions, and he sighed for himself. Ah well... he could afford being generous with his young contractor every now and then... "Why don't you come closer?" He said, not directly looking at her. "That place is hard, isn't it? I doubt a human like you can sleep on it."

She looked at him with open surprise. "Really?" She almost couldn't believe this either... he had never been so open to her before. But she certainly couldn't complain, so she got closer to him, and rested her head in his shoulder. "Ah this feels so much better..." She began to say, but interrupted herself as Chrno suddenly took her in his arms and embraced her, allowing her to rest her head on his chest.

She lifted her head to stare at his face, with open surprise, her cheeks warming up. He only frowned at this. "What's wrong? If you don't like it, then…"

"NO, it's okay!" She exclaimed, not allowing him to finish. "This feels... really nice... thank you." She murmured shyly, pressing her small head against his chest once more, feeling the beating of his heart against her cheek. So relaxing... she almost forgot all the horrible things she had suffered that day... the news of Joshua's disappearance, the minister's harsh words about Chrno, the terrifying attack of the demons, the faces of her friends while they stared at her... none of that mattered much to her at the moment. She would think about that later... "Good night, Chrno." She murmured, as suddenly, sleep seemed to wash over her, and she fell asleep in less than a minute, smiling peacefully.

Chrno looked down to stare at her face for a few moments, as he thought about Rosette dying in a few more years. It had never occurred to him, until that moment, to imagine what she would look like when she grew up. Not that it mattered... he couldn't let himself lose sight of his objective, unless he wanted to end up like last time... he couldn't afford that.

He closed his eyes for a moment, pushing those thoughts aside. He was so tired... all he wanted to do now was to forget about everything and just sleep...

It was past 10 AM when Rosette finally opened her eyes and looked around, feeling a bit lost. Where was she? She was so comfortable and warm, but she couldn't remember where she was... it wasn't until she finally looked upwards and saw Chrno's face, that she suddenly remembered everything, as last night's events came rushing to her mind in one painful moment. But she pushed those memories aside for the moment, as she stared at him for a several minutes, remembering the first time Joshua and her had seen him, sleeping inside that dark and creepy room, like a male version of the Sleeping Beauty... she giggled, though she immediately blushed beet red upon remembering the kiss she had given him. Gah, that sure was embarrassing! Well, at least he didn't know anything about that... she sighed.

Chrno's golden eyes opened as soon as he sensed she was awake, and looked down at her with impassible, yet calm eyes.

"Ah... good morning Chrno. Did I wake you up?" She asked, rubbing her eyes, still a bit embarrassed due to her earlier thoughts.

"Not really. I was just waiting for you to wake up." He said, moving her to the side. He stood up, stretching his muscles and his long wings in a very luxurious way, as if he had slept on a feather bed instead of on the cold stone floor, and offered his hand to her.

"Come on now. I can't tell that is very late already. Let's go see that minister already, before he starts looking for us. The sooner you can convince him to let you join the order, the better."

Rosette nodded, smiling and stood up, taking his large clawed hand with her own small one, feeling rather happy, considering the situation she was in. Instead of horrible nightmares, she had the best dream ever... though she could barely remember it now, she knew it had to do with living in the house of her dreams with her husband, a tall and handsome prince... if only dreams like that came true.

It wasn't long until they were both on the air, as Rosette looked around with wide eager eyes. She never got tired of flying... it was the best part of her day, no matter how hard it was...

The night at the partly destroyed Seventh Bell Orphanage had been difficult. The children were very nervous, and couldn't sleep for most part of the night, and those who could had horrible nightmares and woke up covered in sweat and crying. It wasn't until nearly 8 AM when a Militia rescue team finally arrived at the place, apologizing for their late arrival and giving Remington a full report about last night's events. The situation wasn't good... Remington's own Militia team had been attacked on the way there by some Pursuers, who had destroyed everything on sight, before heading straight for the orphanage searching for the Apostle's sister.

Remington was loading some of the children belongings on one of the Order's trucks, when he sensed a demonic presence nearby, and turned around to stare at the sky. He could almost guess who that presence belonged to... Chrno the Sinner. He made a motion for the rest of the Militia team to be on their guard, but to not attack the intruder. Chrno had a contract with Rosette... injuring him would only result in injuries to the young girl, as he would surely use some of her life to heal himself. He gritted his teeth in anger at the thought. By making a contract with the Apostle's sister, he was virtually immune to the Order's attacks, since their first priority would be to protect the girl's life. On the other hand, though, Rosette would be protected by him... demons were fiercely protective of what they considered their possession, in this case, their contractors. At least Rosette would be safe... for the moment, at least.

Just as Remington expected, Chrno soon arrived at the place, landing softly with Rosette in his arms not too far from where he was. Remington made a signal for the other Militia to lower their weapons, and walked slowly and cautiously to where Chrno stood, spreading his arms in a surrendering gesture.

"I knew you would come." He said simply, though his words were not directed at the demon, but at Rosette, who stood defiantly in front of Chrno, as if wanting to protect him. "So, what have you decided, Rosette? What you do from now on is all up to you." His voice was soft, but firm, as he continued to ignore Chrno's presence. It was all Rosette's decision... If she wanted to stay with the demon, and throw her life away... then there was nothing anybody could do for her other than watch her die, as sad as that was.

Rosette frowned, looking down, searching for the best words to say. "Minister... I, um... well... " _Argh, just say it, you idiot!_ She thought to herself. "I wanted to know if... if I could join the order even if I had a contract with a demwith Chrno." She said at last, looking at the minister's face with a half-hopeful, half-defiant look.

Remington was surprised, but said nothing, and just stared at Rosette, and then at Chrno, for what appeared to her like hours, though it really wasn't more than half a minute. When he finally spoke, however, his voice was calm, belaying nothing of what he was thinking or feeling about the matter at hand. "What made you change your mind so suddenly, Rosette?" He said, in a very kind tone, though his eyes strayed at Chrno for a moment. "Last time we spoke about it, you didn't seem to be too convinced."

Ah, drat. Rosette stared at the ground for a moment, feeling a bit embarrassed. Yes, that was true... she hated the Magdalan Order at first, but then, a lot of things had happened that made her change her mind. "Yeah, that's true, but... that was before the demons attacked, and... well... I want to search for Joshua. If I can train to become an 'exorcist' then perhaps someday I can rescue him, or something. Also... well, nobody would attack the orphanage while I'm there, right?" She muttered.

Remington didn't look too convinced with her explanation, however, as he simply stood there, studying each of her reactions before he finally spoke again. "Are you aware that IF you're accepted into the Order, your friend Chrno will have to be sealed again? Nobody at the Order is going to like having a demon roaming free inside our headquarters... and frankly I can't blame them." He said, his eyes meeting Chrno's for the first time.

"What are you planning?" He asked him. "Surely you don't expect us to welcome both Rosette and you into our organization... have you decided to be sealed again?"

"Yes." Was Chrno's firm reply. "I am willing to have my powers sealed, however, I won't let Rosette go. We have decided to join the Order together... and I am willing to offer you my help to fight against Pandemonium. None of you know its weaknesses the way I do... and my information could be valuable to you. We're in a war... and knowing your opponent's deepest secrets could be a powerful weapon that could make the difference between winning and losing it."

The priest's eyes narrowed at this. This demon sure was very clever... he knew exactly what they needed the most at the moment. Information. The battle against demons had gotten a turn for the worse in recent times, ever since Pandemonium had seemed to 'awaken' and continued the battle that human had thought they had already won. It was important to know their weaknesses, before things got even worse.

He sighed in defeat. "Very well, Rosette. You can join the Order. But Chrno will have to be sealed, and he won't be allowed inside the main offices, just the dormitories and the recreation areas. I will need authorization from Sister Kate, the headmistress of the NY headquarters for this first, though, so don't have your hopes too high up. She will need to know about this situation, but I don't guarantee that she will agree with it."

Chrno nodded, looking at Rosette, who nodded as well. Perfect. He didn't know who this 'Sister Kate' was, but he was positive that he could convince her as well...

After this, the minister made a motion for them to get inside his car, but only on the promise that Chrno wore a special kind of restraints that had a holy protection in it, as an extra security measure. Rosette protested angrily against this, but Chrno agreed without much hesitation. Both him and the minister knew that such a thing did not mean much to a demon of his rank. He could break free easily, even inside the Magdalan Order's car, which had a built-in holy barrier inside it that made him a bit uncomfortable, but really didn't affect him much. Nothing could restrain him for long... not unless they use a very large quantity of holy power, which he was sure they didn't have at the moment, especially not after losing their precious Holy Maiden and the Apostle boy, their source of holy energy…

Their trip to NY was long and tiring, especially for a young impatient girl like Rosette, even though she spent most of her time asleep on Chrno's shoulder. The atmosphere inside the car was tense, to say the least. None of the 3 people spoke much... though the minister sometimes made Chrno or Rosette a few silly questions to break the ice, without much success.

They were a few hours away from the city, in the late afternoon, when Remington raised his eyes to look at the front mirror, and saw that Chrno was apparently asleep. He finally decided to make the girl a serious question. "So tell me Rosette." He said in a very low voice, as if not to awake the sleeping demon, even though he knew he probably wasn't completely asleep. Demon's instincts were always alert, and he doubted Chrno was not aware of every word he spoke. But he also knew that at least Rosette would be able to speak up her mind if she believed him to be asleep, so he continued speaking. "Do you know how demons use their Astral energy?" He asked softly.

Rosette immediately leaned forward on her seat, her eyes suddenly interested. "No..." She whispered. "I know that they take their powers off the Astral Line, but that's about it..."

Remington smiled. Perfect. "Yes, they absorb the energy of the Astral Line through their horns, unless they're sealed, like Chrno has been. In those cases they're forced to take the life energy of their contractor and use them to sustain their life. If they can't find a contractor, the demon dies after a certain period of time... but if they find one they can keep using their powers normally, until their contractor dies, usually after 6 or 7 years, depending on age of the person who makes the contract and how powerful the demon in question is." He said softly, expecting Rosette's next question.

"I see... um..." Rosette shifted uncomfortably on her seat, throwing the sleeping Chrno a nervous glance, before she spoke softly. "How long do you think that I can live? I mean, it's not that important, but well… I want to know so I can hurry up and find Joshua before I... well, you know."

"Well, my guess is that you have about 3 or 4 years left. You're very young still, but Chrno is a high ranking demon, and they tend to consume a lot of energy. But then again, you already knew all of this, didn't you?" He said, looking in the mirror to study Chrno's reaction to his words. He still appeared to be asleep, but one never knew... "Anyway..." He said, still speaking in a low, suave voice. "If he's sealed again, then perhaps you can live a little longer..."

Chrno's eyes opened at this, throwing the minister a silent glare. "I say you stop the car right now, minister." He growled, in a low and dangerous tone.

"Why?" Asked Remington, a little defiantly, yet still pretending to be friendly. "We're almost there..."

"Stop the car now, priest. I can sense several Pursuers coming this way. I expect them to come here in a few minutes more... unless you want to keep driving and let them attack us in here?" He said tauntingly.

The car stopped abruptly, and Remington jumped from the car. Damn it! Over the horizon several flying forms could be seen, rushing to their exact location...

"Rosette." Remington ordered, taking his sword. "Stay inside the car!" Damn it. This was going to be hard...

TBC…

Again, I apologize for the long wait. I will try to post a new chapter every two or 3 weeks at most, but sometimes my work and other activities keep me too busy for my own good. sigh

Anyway… THANK YOU very much for all your reviews! I can't believe I have over 100 already! tears of happiness Really, I'm always happy to read your reviews, wish I had the time to answer to all of them! Constructive criticism, especially, is very helpful. Again, thank you very much! If you like this chapter, or hate it, or have something to criticize about, don't be shy, comments are welcome!

See you next chapter!

Ps. I just uploaded an original piece of fiction on called "The Telestial Chronicles". Don't be fooled by the title, it sounds dramatic, but it's actually a mixture of comedy, romance and drama, written by Nightelfcrawler and me. If you like Chrno Crusade, my guess it's that you will like this story as well. Please take a look at it!

Story id: 1861061


	8. Palace of Shadows

**Tears of innocence**

Chapter 7: Palace of Shadows

Chrno just smiled to himself, watching Remington as he looked at the winged figures at the horizon with a hard face. He simply turned to look at Rosette, not wanting to miss the opportunity of talking to her without the minister hearing him. "Don't listen to anything the priest says about me, alright?" He said, in a low voice, though he knew that the minister couldn't listen to his words. "I will protect your life much better than the Magdalan Order gives me credit for." Rosette nodded in silence, and he stepped out of the car, slamming the door after him and standing outside, in a calm, confident stance.

Let the Pursuers come... nothing could really calm his anger better than proving to the stupid priest just who Rosette belonged to. He stood there, watching the Pursuers coming closer and closer, no doubt having sent there to kidnap his contractor after the apparent failure of the first group of demons that had attacked the orphanage... great. He looked at each of the attackers, their aura giving them away as no more than middle-class demons... mere cannon fodder for him. Excellent.

He waited until he could identify who their 'leader' was, and then he shot forward into the air, taking advantage of their confusion at the sight of another demon suddenly attacking them. Chrno had thought about it before, but now he could see exactly what a major advantage he had over his former allies, simply by being considered 'dead' by them. He had everything on his favor... the advantage of being stronger, and at the same time, the advantage of being the hunter, rather than the one being hunted upon.

His claws ripped off the heart of the largest of the demons of the group, in one quick motion, before any of the others were able to do something to stop him. He immediately turned and attacked the demon closest to him, even before the body of the leader turned into mist, baring his fangs and growling menacingly. His long metal tail whipped around him, blocking the attacks of any demon that came to him from behind, as he moved from one demon to the other, killing them all with deathly speed and accuracy.

Remington just stood by the car, gripping his sword while looking upwards at the fierce battle over him, frowning. Chrno showed no mercy to any of his attackers, tearing them off one by one, resisting their attacks to battle several of them at the same time, proving exactly why he was so feared in the past... and why he was still considered as a powerful enemy. He turned to look at Rosette, who was still inside the car, looking at the battle taking place in the sky with wide eyes. Her gaze, however, did not have a trace of fear in it... just wonder at the amazing power her demon 'friend' had.

It wasn't long until Chrno killed the last of the Pursuers and landed softly on the ground, in the middle of a red mist, as all the blood covering his body began to evaporate, which gave him a rather surreal look against the setting sun.

Rosette threw open the door of the car then and ran towards Chrno, nearly jumping on him, though she tried to control herself and just jumped excitedly, smiling. "Wow, you were great, Chrno!" She exclaimed. "You saved us again... are you alright?"

Chrno reassured her, saying that he wouldn't allow anybody to harm her, which made her smile warmly at him. Her cheeks took on a rosy color upon hearing his words, though she tried to cover it up by saying that she knew Chrno was going to protect her anyway, to which Chrno just shrugged and said nothing, as they both returned to the car.

Remington watched all of this without saying anything, and just returned to the car and turned it on, wanting to return to New York as soon as possible so he could report his findings to Sister Kate, his superior at the Magdalan Order's headquarters. They would have a long conversation about this, no doubt, and she would not be happy... he would have to use everything in his power to convince her to let Chrno to stay at the order, and it wouldn't be easy.

His eyes strayed to the front mirror, watching Rosette with a slight frown, as she continued to talk about how Chrno had 'saved' them. Remington and Chrno's eyes meet for a brief second, before the demon spoke. "Do you still want to seal me? I expect plenty of Pursuers to come her looking for Rosette, minister... wouldn't it be better to let me unsealed so I can fight them using my own abilities?" His voice was calm, but the tone on it conveyed his real thoughts better than anything else.

Remington gripped the steering wheel, but didn't answer him directly. "We'll see about that once we get to the convent. I still need to talk to my superior about this." He said, and quickly changed the topic, asking Rosette about what she knew about New York, and telling her a bit of the city's history.

Chrno leaned back on his chair, and tried to relax, listening to the minister's talk. No matter what the priest said, he knew that the Order couldn't afford turning off his offer of help. The minister had seen for himself what he was able to do... having him as an ally was not something they could refuse so easily, especially if the war, for what he heard, was getting a turn for the worse...

They arrived at the Magdalan Order's Headquarters late in the night, but neither Rosette, who was deeply asleep on Chrno's shoulder, nor him, got off of the car until Minister Remington informed everybody of their arrival, and got a special permission to allow Chrno to enter the premises, after almost an hour of discussing the matter with the Order's strict headmistress.

Rosette opened her eyes, blinking at her new surroundings for a few moments, before she looked up to stare at Chrno. "Whatimeisit?" She murmured, rubbing her eyes and standing up, looking around her in confusion. "Where are we? Have we arrived yet?"

Chrno just smiled at her, a bit amused at her antics. "Yes, we're finally here." He said,just as an armed Militia Team came from the building, surrounding the car to escort them into the premises. Chrno tensed, but before he said anything, he felt Rosette's small hand taking his own one, and he relaxed a little. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, before turning to look at Remington, standing outside, who only nodded

He got off the car, followed by a very sleepy Rosette, and stood in front of the gates, looking at the tall building with slight apprehension. For him the place evoked some of his worst memories... even if he had never been there before, for him the entire building was nothing but a monument of hate against his kind, and he had little desire to stay. His eyes narrowed for a moment, before he felt Rosette's hand taking his again, and looked down to stare at her face, thoughtfully.

Rosette and him walked into the building then, as the big iron gate of the front door closed behind their backs with a loud resounding noise. Remington spoke after a while, as they walked through the wide corridors towards the headmistress' office. "Sister Kate Valentine, my superior, wants to meet with you two immediately. I spoke briefly to her about this situation, but I think it's better if you explain your situation yourselves. Don't worry, she is a very strict headmistress, but she's also a reasonable person. I don't expect her to refuse to give shelter to you, Chrno, just as long as you follow the rules."

Chrno only nodded in silence, but Rosette protested loudly. "Do we have to meet with her NOW? I'm starving!"

Remington smiled at her. "Sorry Rosette, but that is just standard procedure. I'll try not to make the meeting too long, though." Rosette frowned, but said nothing, and just sighed as they finally stopped in front of a large door, which Remington opened for her with a gallant gesture.

Sister Kate Valentine, a stern-looking woman, greeted them politely, yet coolly, throwing Chrno a distrustful look, though her eyes softened almost unnoticeably at the sight of the young girl next to him. "Welcome." She said, after introducing herself to them, in a carefully controlled voice. "Father Remington has informed me about your situation. It is a very rare case for us to deal with, so I ask your cooperation in this matter. Are you aware of this, Miss Christopher and Mr. Chrno?" At their agreement, she continued, in the same calm, matter-of-fact voice that indicated that she was not happy with this, just as Remington had warned them. But she was at least willing to negotiate, which was a plus for them.

"Before you can join our organization, however, a few rules are in place, which you must comply with and that are fundamental for the discipline of every member of the Order, both old and new, human and demon. The rules are as follows..." She said, taking out a bunch of papers that had the official seal of the Order in them, and adjusting her small glasses on the bridge of her nose.

She began to read the many rules of the place to them, but Rosette had long stopped paying attention to anything she said, since the moment Sister Kate referred to her as 'Miss Christopher'. Her voice was slightly monotonous, and she was so tired... she just nodded at everything she said, though her curious child's eyes continued tosurvey the woman in front of her. How old was she? 30? 40? It was hard to tell with a nun's habit and with those glasses...

Chrno, on the other hand, listened attentively to everything Sister Kate said, determined to follow each of them to the last letter. It would not help his situation in the least if he protested against anything the Order established for him in order to let him stay. It was only a matter of discipline, and he would not stay too long in there anyway... he could afford to 'behave' from time to time.

"Do I make myself understood?" Sister Kate asked at last, to which both of them nodded. "Very well... it is late already, so I'll just ask one more question before I allow you to go. Do you, Mr. Chrno, agree to have all your powers sealed while you remain in here? This is important for me to know before I take my decision and talk to the Council tomorrow."

Chrno was just about to answer, when Rosette suddenly spoke up, coming out of her sudden stupor to stare at the woman, frowning slightly. "No way! Chrno is my friend, he doesn't need to be sealed again. He won't do anything bad, he's not as evil as you think!" She said indignantly, making Sister Kate frown.

"I believe, Miss Christopher, that this is a matter of discipline. We cannot have a demon loose around our premises, unless he agrees to our conditions." She said, in a calm voice.

"Baloney!" Exclaimed Rosette, as both Remington and Sister Kate's eyes widened slightly and Chrno turned to look at her, surprised at her strong reaction. "Sealing him is unfair! I'm Chrno's contractor, and I say he stays like that. I will answer to him if he doesn't behave." She said, crossing her arms defiantly. Sister Kate's face was almost red with indignation, as she stood up to point at the insolent child menacingly. "I will not tolerate that kind of behavior. If you want to join our ranks you will have to learn some discipline first!"

"But I know more about him than you do!" Rosette protested, even louder. Sister Kate was about to reply, then Remington intervened.

"Now, now, Sister Kate, let us not lose our heads over this." Said Remington in a calm, soothing voice, just as surprised as she was upon hearing Rosette's words, yet still trying to hide his amusement. To think that the girl would go as far as to try to negotiate with a Militia Commander, and that she would make the normally calm Sister Kate act like that... it was almost funny.

Chrno put his hand on Rosette's head, as she was about to say something else to the stubborn Sister. "It's okay, Rosette." He said calmly. "I don't mind if my powers are sealed, just as long as we are allowed to be together." Rosette looked at him pleadingly, a bit calmer upon hearing his words, but still annoyed.

"But this is not fair!" She said stubbornly. "You're not evil, and you should be your normal self so you can fly."

Chrno had to smile at this. Rosette loved to fly, and had often commented about how great it was for somebody to have wings like his, and how nice they were. But seriously, he could understand the Sister's reluctance to have him inside the Order's premises in his true form. It would make him too notorious, and he could imagine the frightened and hateful stares he would get at every step he gave inside the place. "Listen, I will accept to be sealed, but only if you are the one controlling the seal. That way, if you want me to fly, I would still be able to, just as long as we are outside the Order's gates. What do you say?" He ruffled her hair, in an almost friendly way, as she nodded in silence and he turned to look at the fuming woman behind the big oak desk.

"I accept to be sealed." He said calmly. "I will obey all the rules of this place and cooperate with your cause, just as long as Rosette and me are able to see each other everyday. I we cannot, then we will look for another place for us to live, no matter how difficult it is." There was a moment of silence then, as Sister Kate's hard stare met his. If the Sister didn't approve his own conditions in the matter, then the 'great Magdalan Order' was not a good place for them to stay. But he was almost sure that the woman would not turn down his offer of help, or the opportunity of having an Apostle's sister among their ranks.

Sister Kate frowned, crossing her arms, and stared at the both of them for a moment. Rosette's gaze was as hard as hers was, and they both glared at each other for a few moments, until she finally sighed in defeat. "Very well." She said then, adjusting her glasses on the base of her nose. "Then you will stay here on our premises, if you behave according to the Order's rules." She was looking directly at Rosette when she said this, however.

"Minister Remington." She said, looking at him. "Please accompany them to the Elder's lab. Once Mr. Chrno is sealed, then please take him to his room. I will send somebody to take Miss Christopher to her room later."

Rosette looked at her with incredulity. "We have to do this NOW?" She said, frowning. "I'm hungry!"

"You two can eat afterwards, it won't take that long." Said Sister Kate, a vein popping on her forehead. If Rosette was her pupil, she would give her a good spanking... but fortunately, or unfortunately, she was not, so she continued speaking in a tight voice. "Dinner is served at 7 PM each night, but we will make an exception for you this time." Rosette nodded, yawning, and Remington excused the three of them, and they left the room.

The Elder's lab was a lot less impressive than Rosette had imagined from reading Joshua's rather enthusiastic letters about the Order. It was still very large, however, but she was so tired, that she didn't say anything, and just looked up at the minister and at an old white-haired geezer he introduced as Mr. Edward Hamilton, known by everybody in the Order as simply 'the Elder'.

"Nice to meet you." She yawned again, leaning a bit on Chrno. Darn, she was so sleepy... why couldn't this people wait until tomorrow?

"Why, nice to meet you, young lady." The Elder said, looking at her with barely suppressed interest, looking up and down at her as if she was a doll in display. "Oh, I can tell that youwill be a very pretty woman when you grow up." He said, while Remington just rolled his eyes.

"Thank you..." Rosette said, a bit confused by the man's strange gaze and enthusiasm in his voice. Chrno, however, didn't appear to be too happy about this, andonly said a brief greeting as the Elder introduced himself. He was way too friendly with them, which made him slightly suspicious, but he said nothing and tried to relax.

The Elder talked for about 15 minutes, commenting on how strange their situation was, and how surprised he had been when he received news of their arrival to the Order, but Rosette and Chrno just nodded in silence, both too tense to even pretend to be polite.

After a while, the Elder finally went to a nearby drawer and took out a strange device, which looked a little like a old brass pocketwatch, placing it on a table before them. Heclaimed it to be his newest invention, though it looked quite old and slightly rusty...

"This, my friends, is an Astral contention device, as I like to call it." He said, while Chrno, Rosette and Remington looked at it with hidden interest. "It will block this lovely girl's Astral energy from flooding over to Chrno. It's a prototype model only, so I'm not sure if it's going to be 100 percenteffective, but it will act like a seal for the time being. You can also 'open' it like this... and it will release your Astral energy to him again."

"Whoa..." Rosette said, takingthe watch between her hands. "This is so nice. But why do you have something like this?" She asked curiously, forgetting her sleepiness for the moment. "Have many people like us come to the Order before?"

"No, not really... but that was a good question." Said the Elder smiling. "This device was actually designed by me on a whim, wanting to experiment with Astral energy on humans. I have been waiting for an opportunity to use it for a long time."

Chrno looked at the device with open suspicion, doubting the old man's words and attitude towards him. He took the pocketwatch from Rosette's hands to study it carefully, before giving it to her again. Ah well... it shouldn't be difficult for him to break the pocketwatch's barrier, if worse came to worse... and if Rosette was the one who would keep it, then all the better.

"So how does it work?" Rosette asked. "Do I simply put it on?"

"You need to open it and put a drop of you blood inside, right in the center, do you see? Once you do it, it will automatically start working. It's very simple." The Elder said. "Simplicity it's the best thing about my inventions. Otherwise nobody would be able to use them." He nodded.

_What a strange man_. Both Chrno and Rosette thought. No doubt he hid a lot of things from them, and it was hard to guess his real intentions. But Chrno knew, just by studying his aura, that he didn't really had malicious intent towards them, at least for the moment, so he just shrugged and nodded at Rosette, who frowned a bit.

She extended her index finger towards the Elder, closing her eyes. Darn, she hated needles... The Elder took her hand and prickled her finger, making her wince, as a small drop of blood fell on the center of the pocketwatch's mechanism.

Nothing happened for a moment or two... but just then, the hands of the watch started swirling, until they finally stopped, and the clock closed with a small metallic noise. A light glow enveloped Chrno, whose physical appearance began to change. "Perfect. It's done." The Elder said, turning to look at Chrno, who now looked exactly like he was when Rosette had first found him inside the grave. He could easily pass for a human, except for his red blood eyes and purple hair...

The Elder smiled. "Perfect!" He said, taking the watch to show it to Rosette. "This device also shows how much Astral energy you have left, you see?" Rosette nodded, looking at it. So it would tell her how much time she had... she was grateful that she still had several years in front of her. That device sure was useful!

Rosette then took the watch and put it around her neck. It was a bit heavy, but not enough that it bothered her. "So, can we go eat something now?" She asked at last, making everyone, even Chrno, smile just a little. Well, it was done now...

None of them knew at the moment, but that would be the instant they were officially accepted into the Order... for better or worse...

To Be Continued

Once more I apologize for the lack of updates. Next chapter will be posted next Friday, I swear! (sweatdrop) Thank you everyone for all you wonderful reviews, it makes me so happy to read them! As always, constructive criticism is always welcome! (toothy grin)


	9. The Hours of the Night

**Tears of innocence**

Chapter 9: The Hours of the Night

"Hey, where are you taking Chrno?" Rosette exclaimed, a bit indignantly, as Minister Remington guided him away from her, as they both walked out of the Elder's lab.

Minister Remington smiled at her, amused at her reaction. "Don't worry Rosette. He will be sleeping close to the Elder's lab, in a room we will prepare especially for him. You will be able to see him everyday if you want to... all you have to do is find your way here. It shouldn't be difficult."

Chrno looked back at her for a moment. "It's okay." He said in a low, calm voice that was almost reassuring. "I will be fine. We will see each other tomorrow." His eyes as he looked at her were just as calm, but there was a certain glint to them that she couldn't help but notice. She nodded slowly, not feeling entirely reassured, and was then guided back toSister Kate's office. She stood up as soon as she saw the girl and lead her towards the dining room, a large place with long tables that was mostly deserted, except for 2 or 3 priests that were taking a short break from their night shift.

Rosette sat down at the nearest table, but she was so sleepy, that she hardly ate anything, except for the glass of hot milk beside her plate. Goodness, she was so tired... she could barely keep her eyes open. If only Chrno was there to take her to her room... but nooo, she had to walk all the way to her dormitory by herself, but only after listening to whatever the headmistress had to say... Rosette yawned soundly, looking at Sister Kate with a questioning look, and was about to ask her whereChrno's room was, when suddenly a door opened and a young nun came inside, followed by a brown haired girl about Rosette's age.

"Miss Christopher, allow me to introduce you to Miss Elizabeth Grandberg, your new roommate." Sister Kate said then, her voice calm and even. "She is one of our best students, and is going to be your guide during the first week of your stay. If you have any questions about schedules, or any particular activity, you can ask her and she will help you."

Rosette nodded, yawning again, though she still managed to give a small smile to Elizabeth. "Evening. Nice to meet ya." She said, politely.

"Good evening." Said Elizabeth, just as politely, though she didn't return Rosette's smile. She almost looked like a small version of Sister Kate, albeit a bit less stern-faced, which made Rosette frown. So she was supposed to share her room with that girl? She rather sleep with Chrno instead, though she figured it was not a good idea to say that out loud... she was too tired for another confrontation with the severe-looking Sister, anyway. But she did take a mental note about it, and decided to talk about it when Sister Kate was in a better mood... if the Sister ever WAS in a good mood, that is. She was really starting to doubt it... perhaps that frown on her face was permanent... but no, it shouldn't be, she was sure that Sister Kate, when she first looked at her, was not frowning, and ---

"Rosette?" Sister Kate interrupted her thoughts. "Are you listening?"

Rosette blinked, having completely missed what the headmistress had just said. "Err... yeah. What was it?" She asked, suppressing a yawn and trying hard to keep her eyes open.

Sister Kate sighed. "Never mind... Miss Grandberg, please guide Miss Christopher to her room. I will meet with you tomorrow." Rosette did not look forward to meeting her again so soon, but she just nodded, grateful for having been released from her presence.

Elizabeth then guided Rosette through the long halls of the Order's headquarters, until they arrived to the dormitories, and opened the door of what was going to be her own room. It was small, and it only had 2 beds and 2 small night tables, but Rosette didn't complain, and just jumped into the closest bed, the one next to the window, before Elizabeth could even tell her which of the beds was hers. Elizabeth, however, didn't complain, and just gave her a change of clothes and a uniform for the next day, warning her that they should be ready by 7 AM for morning mass.

Rosette however, was already asleep, and didn't listen to any of her companion's words. As long as the girl woke her up in the morning she would be fine, she guessed...

After what looked like mere minutes to the sleepy blonde, Elizabeth gently shook her awake. "Rosette..." She said. "Wake up, we have to take a shower!" Rosette just grumbled, but eventually opened her eyes at Elizabeth's insistence.

"Mornin'..." She yawned. "Why do we have to get up so early? I can shower later..." Elizabeth replied that it was better to shower now, before there were too many people and the hot water ran out, and nearly dragged Rosette off to where the showers were.

The rest of the morning went by uneventfully. After their shower, they went to morning mass, and then had breakfast at the large dining room, with other girls their age, who greeted Rosette politely, yet somewhat coldly, though Elizabeth did her best to cover it up by saying that they would soon be the best of friends, after making the proper introductions. Then it was time for class...

Rosette was introduced as a new student to her classmates by none other than Sister Kate, who mentioned that Rosette was Joshua Christopher's older sister, causing a stir of murmurs around the classroom, though it died out when Sister Kate said that they should give Rosette their warmest welcome. She seemed to have an almost absolute control over the kids, who remained in silence until thenun left the room andthe teacher started the class.

At recess, there was a small group of kids eagerly surrounding Rosette, asking her all sorts of questions. "Whoa, are you really Joshua's sister?" "Is he really an Apostle?" "Where did he go?" "Are you really from an orphanage?" Were some of the questions, which Rosette answered rather forcefully, not liking their classmate's attitude. It was so different from the Orphanage... all the kids in there were like family to her, and they knew how to behave in front of her for the most part... and those who misbehaved knew that it was a lot better for them to be as far away from Rosette's wrathas humanly possible.

Fortunately, the polite, yet serious Elizabeth rescued Rosette from the small crowd of enquiring children, with the excuse that she wanted to show her around the installations. Rosette was grateful, but she kept thinking of Mrs. Jean and the rest of the Seventh Bell's kids. Where were they? Minister Remington had told her that they would be staying in a religious convent nearby, at least until the destroyed building of the orphanage was reconstructed... she longed to see them again...

She wondered about Chrno as well, but Elizabeth didn't seem toknow anything about him, so Rosette asked her to lead her to the Elder's lab instead so she could ask him some questions. Elizabeth was clearly not happy with this, but agreed, telling her that she would take her there in the afternoon.

The hours seemed to stretch forever, though Rosette had a lot to take in about her new surroundings. Goodness, the place was huge... far more impressive than what she had first thought. No wonder Joshua had been so excited to be there...

After class, Elizabeth showed her the way to the Elder's lab, and went away to finish her homework. Rosette was spared of it for the first week, so she had nothing to worry about in that respect, and as soon as the other girl was done, she ran to the lab, hoping to find Chrno there.

The lab, however, was mostly empty, except for the Elder, who looked up from his newest invention as soon as she entered,smiling at her. "Why, good afternoon Rosette... didn't expect to see you so soon! Is there anything I could help you with? Is there anything wrong with the watch I gave you?"

Rosette shook her head. "Good afternoon... no, the watch it's okay. I came here looking for Chrno. Could you tell me where his room is?"

The Elder just shrugged, and looked away. "Chrno... no, I haven't seen him... perhaps you should ask Sister Kate or Minister Remington. They could tell you." There was something suspicious about his attitude, which annoyed Rosette to no end.

"You know where he is, don't you?" She said slowly. The Elder denied it, but it was obvious that he knew, which made Rosette very angry. "What did you do to him? I want to see him now!" She demanded. The Elder tried to reason with her, but it was a lost cause... Rosette could be as stubborn as a mule, especially when she felt that she was the victim of an injustice, as it was the case.

The Elder finally sighed, standing up. She sure was a stubborn child... she had to, if she had agreed to make a contract with a demon, and stillconsidered him her 'friend'."Very well, let's go see your demon partner then. Minister Remington let me in charge of him for the time being, but I wanted his permission first... this is a very delicate matter after all."

Rosette said nothing, and just followed the old man to a nearby room, which was locked and had several seals on it. She was even more indignant at the sight of this, but waited until the Elder unlocked the door, and ran inside immediately.

Chrno was sitting on a smallbed, surrounded by a glowing barrier, and wearing a special straightjacket that had several holy symbols on it. There were no windows in the white room, which was mostly austere, save for the small bed.

"CHRNO!" Rosette shouted, nearly throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly. "What did they do to you? I'm sorry!" She nearly wailed.

Chrno, however, just patted her head. The straightjacket had not been tied around him, and even if it had been, he could have broken it easily. "Don't worry." He said in a rather calm voice. "They didn't do anything to me, but they had to take some precautions, just in case. Remember, I used to be their enemy." He gave a knowing smile to the Elder, but then leaned forward, whispering softly to Rosette's ear and making her blush. "Anyway, they know as well as I do, that these measures are not enough to stop me, if I really wanted to get out. It's only a show to put in front of the Council... the priest and I agreed on this."

"Re... really?" Rosette whispered, feeling a bit hopeful. "But still, this is not fair, you're not evil!"

"You believe that, but they don't." He said, looking sideways at the Elder. "But I'm fine... I'm just in probation, so to speak. It's nothing to worry about, we'll get them to trust us eventually." He continued to whisper softly, his words only meant to be heard by his contractor, and nobody else.

Rosette wasn't entirely convinced by this, but she had to give in as Chrno reassured her that he was alright. The meeting was fairly short, but the Elder promised Rosette that she would be able to see him every time she wanted, which somehow calmed her a little...

Her first months in the order were almost a nightmare. She got used to the schedule fairly quickly, thanks to the kindElizabeth's help, but she felt rather lonely whenever she couldn't be with Chrno. The rest of the kids in her class were constantly asking her questions, which she tried to answer for the most part, except those that had to deal with Chrno. The rumors that a demon was inside the premises, and that it had made a contract with a human soon leaked out, and the suspicion that Rosette, the new student, was responsible for this, was not lost on her classmates, which soon started to avoid her and to whisper behind her back every time they thought she couldn't hear them.

That Rosette was not somebody unable to defend herself, or better, someone who suffered in silence, only made them even more afraid of her... she would turn around and shout at the people who whispered behind her back, return every prank played on her, and stand up for herself whenever somebody even thought of accusing her of something unjust. This soon made her presence very familiar to Sister Kate, as she would be sent to her office at least 2 or 3 times a week to listen to her sermons. By the second week, Rosette had gone from "Miss Christopher" to just "Rosette" as the nun slowly got used to her antics.

Elizabeth, however, was fairly tolerant, taking into heart Sister Kate's advice of watching over Rosette whenever it was possible, and was perhapsthe only one who didn't believe the rumors or Rosette being a demon's contractor. Despite their almost opposite personalities, Rosette slowly made good friends with her, though she kept her friendship with Chrno a complete secret. He was the only person she fully trusted, and the only one whom she could confide in and tell everything she felt about her new surroundings.

Chrno was soon allowed to leave his room, just as long as he was accompanied by the Elder or Minister Remington, and would spend most of the day in the lab, thanks to the old man's request of having him as an assistant, which didn't make anybody happy, though Sister Kate grudgingly accepted.

Elizabeth eventually learned of Rosette's secret after an incident at the lab, during a night where Rosette had sneaked out of her room to visit Chrno. Elizabeth was definitely NOT pleased to learn about the contract, and was even less happy to see Rosette being friends with a demon like Chrno, but when a low-level demon used for an experiment accidentally escaped from the place where it was contained, she changed her opinion about him in a flash. Chrno immediately destroyed the danger, saving herand Rosette's lives, and she had to admit, he was cool in a way... if Rosettetrusted him with her life, then she would have to give in as well...

The incident earned both Rosette and her a very long sermon, but they were fortunately spared of a punishment thanks to Elizabeth's testimony of having been responsible for it. She was a model student, so Sister Kate decided to let them go after only an hour of reciting the dangers of acting irresponsibly.

Rosette and Elizabeth made great friends after that, and their friendship served as an open door for the rest of the girls in Rosette's class to put their doubts aside and making an effort to befriend her. They soon discovered that despite her sometimes explosive temper, Rosette was a fun person to be with, and were slowly taken in by her bright personality. Elizabeth had to leave the order about 2 years later, due to the death of her father, but her friendship with Rosette and in a lesser degree, with Chrno, continued despite the distance.

Chrno, in the meantime, kept a low profile, helping the Elder at the lab, and staying away from any trouble or suspicion that could arise regarding him. He willingly cooperated with the Order, giving as much information about Pandemonium as he could, spilling several vital secrets to the organization, and revealing some of its weak points... but not all of them. He carefully avoided mentioning Joshua, Aion or the secrets of Pandemonium's core... no need for humans to learn about them.

His relationship with Minister Remington, however, continued to be difficult, but Chrno soon learned to be patient, obedientand submissive with all of the members of the Magdalan Order. His behavior also changed... he smiled more at Rosette's antics, and soon earned a bit of the trust of the people that surrounded him, though he knew that not everyone was happy with his presence there, especially Sister Kate and Remington. That Rosette seemed to develop a small crush on the priest didn't help matters either, but Chrno never made any comment or gesture that belayed his feelings in the matter. Rosette was his partner, his contractor... the moment he forgot about that, then his life would be over.

One sunny day, 4 years after their arrival at the Order, Rosette suddenly barged into Chrno's room, which now was closer to hers, as he had been 'promoted' (if it could be called a 'promotion') from the Elder's assistant to Rosette's partner, thanks to a combination of Rosette's stubbornness indemanding tohave him by her side at all times, and minister Remington finally giving in and accepting to use his influence on the girl's behalf. Both Rosette and Chrno were under his direct responsibility, and this way made it a lot easier for him to observe them closely... his doubts about Chrno's motivations for making a contract were always present, but it was clear to him that the demon had changed since the time they had met... how deep that change was, however, remained to be seen...

"Chrno!" Rosette said, slamming the door after her. "Guess what! We have been assigned to a WONDERFUL case!" She said enthusiastically, sitting down on the closest chair next to him.

Chrno raised his head from the book he was reading, an old chronicle of the Magdalan Order's early years, and smiled at her. She had grown so much... she was now 16 years old, and was one of the best novices the Order had... she was about to turn into a pretty young adult woman, something he had been waiting since the time she had made a contract with him...

"Oh really?" He said calmly, putting the book away, precisely at the chapter that detailed the happenings of the Great War, 200 years ago. "Whatis it? Does this mean that Sister Kate finally forgave us?" He asked, almost innocently. Rosette had been yelled at by the angry nun just 3 days ago, thanks to a rather expensive incident near the Statue of Liberty.

"Hey, this has nothing to do with the disasterof the cargo ship!" She said indignantly. "Besides, that wasn't our fault... the ship crashed on its own.Anyway, this new assignment is something else... something _important_." She grinned.

"So, what is it this time? It's not a haunted building or anything like it, is it?"

"Nope. Not at all... you see, this deals with the _Apostles_." She said slowly, letting her words hang on the air.

Chrno remained calm, not revealing his thoughts in the matter, except for an almost imperceptible smile. At last... a clue. "An Apostle... so have they found another one besides Joshua?" He asked, already figuring out his course of action.

"No, unfortunately not..." Rosette's tone lowered a little, but then she smiled again. Oh she couldn't wait for this! "But it involves rescuing an Apostle girl from a devil worshipper, a millionaire called Ricardo Hendric that apparently adopted her. And that's not all... we'll be sent to Las Vegas on our own!" She added, barely helping herself. "Just imagine that... we could evenhave a little fun while we do our job and save her!" Her eyes nearly glittered. "Anyway, the girl's name is Azmaria, a young soprano from Portugal. We will have to be ready for this, we will leave to Las Vegas tomorrow."

Chrno nodded, amused. _An Apostle..._ he would have to find a way to contact Aion to deliver the great news... and the sooner, the better.

To Be Continued...


End file.
